


We're Not Broken Just Bent

by AllHaleOlicity



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-10-27 23:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17776142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllHaleOlicity/pseuds/AllHaleOlicity
Summary: Valentines Day isn't always a nice romantic time in Star City





	1. Chapter 1

"What do you think?....Liz?....Elizabeth?"

"Huh?" Eliza turned her head towards Ronnie, not taking her eyes off of the sign advertising Valentines Day festivities in Star City. Ronnie followed her gaze then looked back at her, bumping her lightly with his arm. She finally looked up at him. "Sorry."

He shook his head, brushing off her apology. "What are your plans for the weekend?" He asked again, putting his hands in his coat pockets.

Eliza thought about it for a second, looking up at the pink sky. The sun was setting and the air was getting colder and for some reason they were standing in front of a small bakery instead of going into a warm restaurant.

"Well, it's Valentines Day weekend so everyone will probably be out doing dumb romantic things, even Miriam has a school thing, so I'll be home alone, I'll probably order some food and watch The Exorcist."

 "Home-"

"Yeah."

"Alone-"

"Yeah."

"On Valentines Day-"

"Yeah." Eliza nodded. "And watching The Exorcist." She continued. "Food."

Ronnie shook his head again, trying to hide the smile on his face. She was just so adorable all of the time. "If only you had someone to keep you company on this dumb romantic weekend..." He said as dramatically as he could.

Eliza sighed, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets and walking down the sidewalk, Ronnie quickly skipped up beside her. "You know how I feel. Valentines Day is just a business made holiday that forces people into feeling guilty if they don't spend an over-dramatic amount of money on someone that they should show love to everyday anyway. They raise the prices on everyday items for no reason, the flowers still die, the chocolate is super expensive, I haven't eaten a Kit-Kat in a month because they went from being a dollar to five dollars."

"But wouldn't it be nice to celebrate just once?" Ronnie asked, complete innocence in his voice. He knew right after he finished the sentence that he shouldn't have said anything based on the look Eliza shot him.

"I prefer my demons."

"Clearly." He mumbled. It was quiet, which was out of character for him, but it just slipped out of his mouth and he was hoping she didn't hear it. She did.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eliza stopped suddenly, she took her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms, looking up at Ronnie as he stumbled over himself while trying to find a way to drag his foot out of his mouth.

"I thought after the Jason thing-"

"What 'Jason' thing?"

Ronnie considered his options then waved the question off. "It was dumb. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, you shouldn't have.... But you did anyway. So say it."

"I Just... I thought that we were going to progress a little more."

"How much more progress? We've been together for two years."

"Exactly. Two years of you calling me a friend or one of the Legends. I care about you, I've been patient, I've given you space-"

"What do you want me do, Ronnie? You want the boyfriend title? I didn't think it mattered that much to you but go ahead, have it." Eliza threw her hands up before stuffing them back into her coat and continuing down the sidewalk, again Ronnie followed her.

"Liv and D have a house."

"They've been together for 6 years! They aren't married-"

"I'm not saying marriage-" Ronnie paused, reaching for Eliza's arm and pulling her to a stop. Eliza looked everywhere around Ronnie before making eye contact. "I love you, Elizabeth. I know you have your issues with commitment, I respect that, I try not to cross that line, but I love you."

She looked down, shaking her head and biting the inside of her cheek. A minute passed before she looked back up at him. She tried with everything she had to say something, anything. Speak. Say anything. Say something. A word. Any word. Before she could, Ada and JJ had pulled up beside them on the street. Ada rolled down the passenger window, "Hey strangers. Need a ride?"

Eliza and Ronnie looked at Ada then back at each other. Ronnie gestured for her to accept the offer. It was getting dark, it was cold and it was a surprisingly long walk back to the jumpship. Eliza fought with herself  every step closer to the car and further from Ronnie. She just needed to say something. Why didn't she say something? She pushed it to the back of her mind, she'll call him later. Everything will be fine.

* * *

 

**A few days later**

* * *

 

"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?" Ada asked as she put in her second earring. "It could be fun!"

Eliza grimaced as she crossed her arms and leaned back on the wall by the front door. "Third wheel on Valentines day? I'd rather crash Miriam's high school party."

"It's gonna be hell." Miriam mumbled as she walked up.

Ada frowned, giving her sister a hug. "I'll be home in a heartbeat if you need me." She said as she pulled away, Eliza nodded, opening the door so she could meet JJ outside. Miriam followed behind her.

After her sisters walked outside she closed the door and waited for the next set. Aka the parents.

Oliver and Felicity came downstairs and almost like clockwork they were standing in front of her. Both of them clearly worried about her but neither of them want to push the wrong button and set her off.

"I'm fine." Eliza spoke before them. "I already have food on the way, I have movies lined up in a Netflix and Hulu queue. It's gonna be a nice to have the house to myself for the night." That was lie. This place is far from a normal house. It's a mansion and it's so quiet it's almost deafening when you're the only person in it. But that's between the lines and she was hoping her parents weren't reading that much into what she was saying or how she was saying it.

Oliver nodded slowly then gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "We'll be back soon."

Felicity kissed her cheek before following Oliver out of the house and just like that, she was finally alone.

Part of her thought about whether or not she should try to get some work done so she wouldn't have to do that later in the week, but the other part of her really just wanted to take the night off like she was supposed to and watch some creepy shit. The creepy shit wins most of the time with her, this time was no different.

 Food arrived about 20 minutes after Oliver and Felicity left and she started a movie. An hour later there was a knock at the door. Eliza looked at her watch as she paused the movie. It was only 9, no way anyone in her family was home yet and her parents were never the type to forget their keys even it was them.

She didn't think to check the camera before opening the door. It was either gonna be her family or a murderer. She watched too many scary movies in her life that she wasn't even worried about it. Also her dad is the Green Arrow and literally everyone in her family and friend circle is connected in some way to that. If it were a murderer she would be more worried about what they'd do to them than what would happen to her.

She swung the door open, and with the tall figure actually standing in front of her she almost regretted everything she just thought. She looked them up and down before rolling her eyes and walking back towards the living room. "What do you want, Jay?"

Jason stood in the doorway for a minute before walking inside. He closed the door and followed her into the living room, by the time he got there she was already curled back up on the couch with a blanket and her movie playing. He looked at the screen as he sat down beside her on the couch. "We need to talk."

"Tonight specifically?" She asked, looking over at him.

He shrugged. "Figured you'd be alone. I know your dad won't let me anywhere near you."

 "Rightfully so." Eliza added before narrowing her eyes. "Wait, why would I be alone?"

"You hate Valentines day."

"So? Things change. People change."

"You're literally sitting here alone, in the dark, watching some movie about....What is this? Groundhog day?"

"Happy Death Day but...Yeah, Basically."

"I just wanna talk. Give me 20 minutes and I'll leave."

Eliza considered it for a second then shrugged. "10."

"I expected no more than 2 so I'll take it." He shot her a smile, she just rolled her eyes and tucked herself further into her blanket.

Jason started talking about his side of how things went down that day, everything followed along with what her dad told her that night. He didn't go as far into detail as Jason did but that made sense then. After he told her about what happened that night he died, he continued on to talk about what happened in his absence. He did die, that wasn't something Team Batman just told Team Arrow for no reason, it wasn't Jason's way out, he died.

He came back with help from the pit and by then Eliza could piece together everything else. She didn't stop him from talking but she followed along in her head. The pit changes people, she remembers what her dad told her about her aunt Sara and aunt Thea and how they changed. There's a way to fix the effect it has on people and that's why it took so long for him to come back. Not only is the healing process actual hell but working through the issues you're left with after being brought back by a magical hot tub isn't ideal.

After the 10 minutes were up, Jason had said everything he needed to say. He stood up from the couch and put his hands in his pockets. "I'll let you get back to your movie and pizza." He turned around and started to walk off.

The world felt like it was in slow motion, She thought about what Ada told her a few days ago when Jason and his team came over to help with a meta. Ronnie and Jason were close to fighting but luckily the team worked to keep him separated from the entirety of Team Batman and that never happened. Once everyone left and it was just her and Ada she felt the need to insert herself into the situation.

Ada told her that Jason wasn't a great guy and even if they didn't know what happened to him, he wasn't a good guy before everything and he was worse now. And when Eliza tried to defend him even a little bit Ada jumped to the "you're just afraid of having feelings for Ronnie" lecture that she's gotten from Liv she doesn't even know how many times.

She wasn't sabotaging her relationship with Ronnie by defending Jason. She was just tired of being mad. If she can move past it everyone else should too. And now that she knows what happened she can move past it completely. Finally let him go. Maybe this was what she needed to move forward with Ronnie. She wasn't sabotaging, she just wanted to be ready for a serious thing before making a real commitment.

Him coming over and explaining things was good. She could move on. She could call Ronnie and apologize for everything that happened the other day. Unless she wasn't ready.

"Jason."

He turned back around to look at her.

"You can stay... If you want."

Jason looked at the front door then back at Eliza. He took his hands back out of his pockets and took his seat on the couch. She took the end of her blanket and tossed it over to him.

"Happy Death Day, huh?" He looked over at her. A small smile formed on her face, she shrugged. "What's it about?"

"You haven't seen it?" Eliza looked shocked, "Hang on, I'll start it over." She reached for the remote and restarted the movie as she handed him a bag of Sour Patch Kids.

\---

"That was...." Jason started as the credits rolled up the screen.

:Amazing?" Eliza sat up, tying her hair into a messy bun.

"Repetitive." Jason finished. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Eliza's mouth drop open. He turned to look at her "In a good way."

She took one of the couch pillows and hit him with it before he stood up. He walked over to the chair on the other side of the room and picked up his jacket, Eliza pouted for a split second. "Don't you wanna stay for the second one?"

"There's another?" He raised his eyebrow at her as he slid on his jacket, Eliza nodded. "Maybe another night. It's getting late and your parents will be home at some point."

"Just like old times." Eliza said sarcastically, looking at her watch. "Eleven. Shit. Yeah, you should probably go." She stood up from the couch and walked with him to the front door but before they reached it there was another knock. They shared a confused look.

"Ada?"

Eliza shook her head lightly, "She's staying at JJ's tonight."

"Miriam?"

"With Marley and Troy on the Waverider."

Jason stepped in front of Eliza and pulled the door open. "Oh." He dropped his shoulders. "It's you."

Eliza, curious, peaked out from behind Jason. "Ronnie?" She tried to cover her shocked expression with the confused one she just had. "What are you doing here?"

Ronnie looked from Jason to Eliza, "What's he doing here?"

"Leaving." Jason waved to Eliza before sliding past Ronnie and walking down the porch steps. Ronnie watched as he got into his car before turning back around.

"It's not what it looks like." Eliza blurted out, she didn't know why she felt guilty. She didn't do anything wrong.

"I was going to call you. But I figured you wanted space." He started, looking around the porch. "Then I thought I should come over. But I didn't want to show up empty handed." He pulled a small box from his pocket and handed it to her.

Eliza was hesitant to take it and even more hesitant to open it, inside was an enamel pin of a skull with a rose inside of it. "Ronnie-"

"It's late. I'll call you tomorrow." He turned around and started walking towards the driveway.

"Ronnie."

"Happy Valentines Day, Liz." 


	2. Chapter 2

Eliza and Ronnie sat on the front steps of Queen mansion, after what happened a few days ago Eliza has tried to get Ronnie to call her or come over so they could talk but ever since that night he's just texted that the legends were on a mission and he couldn't talk until they got back. She had no reason not to believe him aside from the thought that maybe he just didn't want to talk to her until he could actually sit there and hear her out.

She could be making this out to be more than it actually was, nothing happened between her and Jason, Ronnie seemed normal,she was the nervous one and for what? She didn't have to explain herself, she didn't owe him anything. But they haven't actually had a real conversation since he told her he loved her and she just left him there on the sidewalk very dramatically.

"I'm surprised you actually came." Eliza finally said, looking over at Ronnie.

He shot her a confused look, shaking his head slightly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I've been a bitch, it's not fair to you. You didn't do anything wrong." She crossed her arms and leaned on the porch railing, looking out at the yard. The situation felt tense and part of her didn't think he was gonna show up at all so now she had to force something out of her mouth and everything she thought of was awful and sounded wrong.

"Jason did, right? 5 years ago?"

Eliza glanced at Ronnie then back at the yard. She tried to think of something to say but her brain and mouth weren't working together. She was afraid silence would make things worse and she didn't want things to be worse she wanted things to be the way they were before Jason came back.

"You needed to talk to him, I get it. Lots of unresolved issues. But damn, does he have terrible timing."

"Timing could have been better." She agreed, trying her best to feel out the situation. Things still felt tense but it could be in her head. She is related to Oliver Queen. "Nothing happened, Ronnie."

"I wasn't accusing you." He responded quickly, his tone wasn't snappy, he was sincere, which just made her feel worse. "Do you feel any better after talking to him?"

She shrugged. She didn't feel worse but better wasn't the word she was looking for either.  This was her first love they were talking about and from the stories she's heard in movies and from her family, that's not something you just move on from. And they didn't even get a chance to break up, he was taken away from her violently. So, no, she didn't feel better. But she will at some point once her brain stops trying to sabotage her.

She glanced back at Ronnie and could tell by the look he was giving her now that she's been silent too long. "I don't know."

"Do you still have feelings for him?" Ronnie was more quiet with this question, like he was afraid to ask.

Eliza looked down. "I don't know." She answered quieter than he had asked.

She heard him sigh, she didn't want to look up at him, she didn't want to see the expression on his face. She just wanted to look at her donut socks. The two sat there quietly for a few minutes before Ronnie stood, that's when she finally looked at him. He held his hand out, helping her up.

"You know how I feel, Liz." He tucked his hands into his coat pockets. "And I don't want to be standing in the way of how you feel. That's not fair to anyone involved." again, his voice was sincere, so sincere she wanted to punch him. He was too nice of a person to have to deal with this.

"Ronnie-"

"I just want you to be happy. Whether that's with me, with Jason, with yourself, alone in a cabin in the woods, I don't care. As long as you're happy."

"What is this? Are we breaking up?" Eliza asked, watching his expression change.

"That's up to you. Do you want to break up?"

She looked back down at her socks. Why was she wearing socks with donuts on them? That's very immature for this adult conversation she was avoiding.

"I'll talk to you later, Liz." He said after another minute, walking off the porch and down the driveway.

* * *

 

 The waverider was good for a lot of things; Time travel, healing people, knowledge. But the service was awful and usually that wasn't an issue since there was rarely enough downtime to actually sit and try to connect to anything online. He was a few minutes from his mom's house, there was no reason he couldn't just go there to play whatever game he wanted.

The only reason he had for not going is the fact that no one knew him better than Chloe and his Mom, and he knew that the second she opened the door she would know something was wrong. So he sat in the small room that he shared with Adam, mindlessly shooting at the other players on this game and getting killed before even reaching top 50.

There was a light knock on the wall behind him as his character died again, he groaned before turning his chair around. "Why did I ever think this was fun?"

Chloe shrugged, crossing her arms and leaning on the wall she knocked on before. "Because you're a child."

Ronnie scoffed, turning his chair around again to close the programs he had open on his computer. "What do you want, Clo?"

She watched him exit the game and put his computer to sleep before turning back around. "Something happened."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I'm trying to figure it out." She answered, studying him.

"Well, when you figure it out let me know."

"Ronnie, your bullshit isn't fooling me. We're connected, remember?" She stood up straight. "What happened with Eliza?"

He shrugged.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

"We're done.... Me and Liz..."

"You broke up?"

"She has Jason back and I'm happy for her."

"Again, the bullshit? Not doing a thing for me."

"It's the truth."

"I can feel you."

"What do you want me to say, Clo?" Ronnie stood up, pacing the small space in the center of the room. "She Isn't happy with me."

"That's so not true, she loves you."

"She made do with what she had, the second she saw him she dropped everything- she dropped me." He stopped pacing and instead sat down on his bed in between the door and the computer desk.

"What did she say?"

"Nothing."

"Ronnie-"

"I asked her if she had feelings for him and she said _nothing_."

This was exactly the kind of conversation he wanted to avoid having with his mom. He knew Chloe would probably ask what was going on, they shared emotions, they shared a lot but the emotion part sucked. If Chloe had a crush on a guy and he flirted with someone else, Ronnie would feel the jealousy. If Ronnie was frustrated with his computer, Chloe would be in the training room slamming around dummies...or Adam. Cramps? Yeah, Ronnie thought he was going to die the first time that happened. So it made sense Chloe wanted to talk to him because she felt what he felt and it was probably just as much hell for her as it was for him.

The more he felt the more he got angry. Not with Eliza, never with Eliza. With Jason, with life, with himself. It was always stronger around Chloe since they fed off of each other's emotions but that's why her dad always told them to talk. Talking helps calm them down and even though the emotions are stronger for a minute it'll go away faster.

But this was different.

He just wanted it to stop and it wouldn't. Chloe was talking but he didn't hear anything she was saying, his heart was pounding too loudly in his head. He was too close to spiraling and he didn't like it. Chloe must have caught on to how he was feeling now because before he knew it she stopped talking and was sitting beside him with her arms wrapped around him and her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, It's gonna be okay. You'll be okay. Give it time."

Time. Time kind of stops existing when you spend most of your year on a time traveling space ship but sure, he just needs time. That's irony for you. You can have all of time at your fingertips and still need more of it.

 "Why are you here?"

Chloe lifted her head to look at him, he was looking across the room at Adam's bed, she could tell his mind was still going 200 miles a minute. "Because I care about you."

"You were so excited to be home with your family and instead you're sitting here with me."

"You're my family too."

"No, I'm the person you got stuck with." He pulled away from Chloe and stood back up. "You were having a nice day with your family and I ruined it. I always ruin it."

"Ronnie, you're being ridiculous."

"How did you know I was here?" He crossed his arms and looked down at Chloe.

"You weren't at home."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Because I knew something was wrong."

"You should have been with your family not running around trying to find me. This bond is ruining your personal time." He started to pace the room again.

Ronnie was a very interesting character. He was so bubbly and full of energy that when he started to crash he crashed hard. Chloe knew this, she's known him her whole life and she's been bonded with him for at least 8 years. But the thing about Ronnie is he rarely crashed, he has moments of self-doubt, he has moments where he just wants to go home and be done but she can usually pull him back easily.

But a full crash is rare and she doesn't ever know what to do but be there for him while he digs himself into a hole and struggles to climb out. Nothing hurt Chloe more than having to sit there and watch the disaster unfold but there wasn't anything she could do and even if there were something he wouldn't ever ask for help and she couldn't force help onto him because that would just make things worse.

"Do you think my dad and your granddad had it easy? That they didn't get in each other's way sometimes?"

"No, I know they didn't have it easy. Jax didn't either, that's why they found a way to stop it."

"Stop what?" She leaned up, watching him pace the room.

"The bond. Firestorm being split into two people."

"You're being dramatic."

"You could have a normal life."

"I hate to tell you this but my life stopped being normal the day I was born and had to wear a special band that kept me from going supernova." She stood up, standing in Ronnie's way to stop him from pacing. "Besides, we both know this isn't about me. You're just making it about me because you're afraid of it being about you."

"Why would I not want it be about me? I love talking about myself." He said quickly before moving past her and sitting in his desk chair.

Chloe rolled her eyes and turned around, trying to keep up with Ronnie was like trying to keep up with a cat in a field of mice. "Remember when your dad left?"

"Selfish bastard, never needed him anyway."

"You closed yourself off whenever someone asked if you were okay, you turned the topic around and before anyone knew it you were on a rant about how cows are causing global warming."

"They are."

"When's the last time you talked to your dad?"

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "Why does it matter? He's as good as dead in my mind."

"You left Eliza too soon."

Ronnie narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You leave before you can be left. You and Eliza have that in common but I'm gonna assume that she doesn't know that." Chloe sat back down on Ronnie's bed, reaching over and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Go talk to her."

"We're already broken up, Clo, That was her decision."

"She's confused, she has feelings running through her head that she hasn't felt in years. She loves _you_. Go talk to her."

"Clo-"

"If not for yourself then for me. Just go back and talk to her."

"I've talked to her."

"Talk to her again. Actually _talk_ to her, she loves you and you love her. It'll work out. I have faith."

Ronnie sighed, uncrossing his arms and standing back up. "You're too optimistic."

"Please?"

"I'll go and see her, but I've done all I can do, Clo. The ball is in her court."

"That's my boy!" Chloe gave him a bright smile, standing up.  "And if for some ungodly reason things go south, we can watch Die Hard tonight."

"Yeah, 'cause Die Hard will really lift my spirits after I lose my girlfriend to a zombie."

"Just go." She shoved him playfully towards the door.

* * *

The Queen mansion was absolutely terrifying to an outsider. Sure, Ronnie has been inside of it a few times in the 2 years he's dated Eliza but it was still so terrifying standing at the end of the driveway and looking up at the place. Even more so when you think about how the most powerful people in the city are living in it. Oliver Queen might be mayor anymore but he works with the SCPD and he's still Green Arrow, he still scares everyone to their core when he looks directly at them. Or maybe just Ronnie.

Felicity Smoak has the power to erase a person from the planet as far as digital records go. She never abused that power, she's a good person. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to even think of crossing her or messing with her family. In ways, she was scarier than her husband. Nicer, sure. But that just added to the scary. She could ruin you and you wouldn't even know it until you tried to access your bank account.

Again, she never abused that power and Oliver never attempted to shoot Ronnie with an arrow--yet-- but it's just the things he thinks about when looking at the mansion.  
And to make those thoughts worse is the fact that he's dating their daughter-- was dating their daughter? Whatever he was doing with their daughter, they weren't in a good place right now. Which means if Eliza's parents are home they're gonna be watching him a lot closer unless she hasn't told them anything which was also a possibility. Eliza did like her privacy. She chose the wrong career and family for that luxury though.

Ronnie let out a long breath before walking up the rest of the driveway and up the front steps of the mansion. As he walked up to the door he thought about how Eliza looked before he left the last time, didn't give him a lot of confidence that things were going to go well. He started to question why he ever listened to Chloe, she meant well but what he had with Eliza might be too far gone to save.

Before he could turn around the front door swung open and a small blonde stood on the other side. She looked at him up and down then crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

"Mia, how have you been?" Ronnie gave her a smile, she just stared blankly at him and his smile faded.

The Queen siblings were all unique but the girls were beyond that. Ada tolerated him like an annoying older brother that she loved but would never admit to it. Miriam treated him like a best friend who doubled as a cool older brother who would take her to R rated movies. Mia though...She despised him. He knew it, he tried to change her opinion but she was close with Jason long before he came into the picture so he stood no chance.

"I'm here to see Elizabeth."

Mia rolled her eyes, looking back into the house then at him. She opened the door wider before walking further into the house, Ronnie hesitated for a second before following behind her. She nodded towards the stairs as she walked into the living room where her best friend was waiting for her. "Eliza's upstairs in her room."

Ronnie looked around as he continued to follow Mia into the living room. "Where is everyone?"

Mia shrugged, falling back onto the couch beside Jocelyn. "Parents are at work, Will moved out a long time ago, Ada is with JJ, Miriam and Rosie are at a dance thing, Owen is out with friends, Eliza is upstairs in her room, I'm here." She looked up at Ronnie. "Do you wanna know where my grandparents are too? My uncle? Aunts? Cousins?"

"Thank you, Mia." He nodded to the girls before walking back out into the entrance way and jogging up the stairs.

He started to slow down as he made it to the last few steps, the weight of the world falling onto his shoulders. Chloe told him to talk to Eliza but what was he going to say? He left earlier like an idiot, he left on Valentines day like an idiot, while he's entitled to a little bit of frustration in their relationship he hasn't given her a lot to work with. They're both so closed off to super personal things that they run away when they should stay and actually talk.

And now what? He shows up out of the blue and wants to talk? Now? Why not earlier? Why not on Valentines day? How well did showing up out of the blue work for him last time? He quickly shook himself from the thought. This was going to be different. Chloe was rarely wrong, he hated it but it was true.

He walked slowly down the long hallway, taking a deep breath when he reached Eliza's bedroom door. It took a lot of strength to not walk away, his heart was in his head again just pounding in his ears, his hands were shaky and he wished for nothing more than to be back in his room on the waverider with Chloe. But he loved Eliza. So much more than anyone he's dated in the past and if he walked away now he'd be giving up on them and he didn't want to give up on them. He's been scrambling his brain for what he was gonna say when she opened the door and an apology is what came to mind. He owed her that. So he slowly raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door, quickly stepping away and putting his hands behind his back.

He could hear shuffling from inside the room and a few seconds later Eliza opened the door, her expression changing quickly from frustration to confusion. He always thought the confused look was adorable on her but when it was focused at him it was not adorable it was just sad.

"Ronnie." She slipped out of the small crack in the door and pulled it shut behind her. She crossed her arms and looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry." He blurted out, he couldn't think of any way to ease into it. Go big or go home, right? "You told me earlier that you've been a bitch lately and that's not true. Your entire world was turned on it's head and instead of helping you through it and being patient I put you on the spot. That was a dick move, I'm sorry."

"Okay." She uncrossed her arms and leaned on the outer door frame. "So, that's why you came over?"

He nodded. "I know I could have called beforehand, showing up randomly is kind of....Stalkerish? But I wanted to apologize."

"No, it's just-" She looked at the ceiling then back at him. "I kind of assumed you were back in Central City or in 3087 or something. Somewhere far away from here."

"Do you want me far away from here?"

"No." She responded quickly. "I'm glad you're still here, I wanted to call or text you after you left but I didn't know if you'd answer so I just threw myself into work." She gestured to her bedroom.

He looked down, assuming she was in the middle of editing or recording when he showed up and distracted her. "Oh...I didn't mean to-" But before he could finish Eliza's bedroom door opened, she quickly jumped out of the way, standing beside Ronnie. He looked back up, confusion now washing over his face. Jason poked his head out into the hall, a smirk forming as he stepped out into the hall.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Ronnie looked over at Eliza, she was glaring at Jason. He shook his head. "No, but clearly I am."

"Ronnie-" Eliza turned towards him but he took a step back, she turned back towards Jason. "I told you to wait inside."

"How was I supposed to know your boyfriend was out here? I figured it was Mia."

"It's fine, I'll go. You two get back to whatever it was you were _working_ on." He shot Jason a glare before walking back down the hallway, Eliza darted between the two of them before chasing after Ronnie.

She followed him down the stairs and out onto the porch before he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He put his hands on his waist, kicking the ground before turning to look up at Eliza at the top of the stairs.

"I'm sorry." She said just loud enough for him to hear.

He shook his head. "Don't apologize."

"Ronnie-"

"We're done, we decided on that this morning, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't apologize."

"You're mad-"

"I'm mad at myself for thinking I could just come back a few hours later and everything would be fine. I should have known he'd be here." He gestured towards the mansion before crossing his arms.

"It's not like I called him right after you left-"

"3 hours, Liz. I left 3 hours ago and I come back and you two seem pretty fucking cozy."

"You're the one who suggested a break up!"

"It's not about the break up! It's the fact that you needed less than 3 hours to get over what we had in the past 2 years! I've spend the last 3 hours replaying this week in my head-"

"He was there making me feel better after _you_ left!"

"I bet he was." He muttered, mostly to himself but that didn't mean Eliza didn't hear it.

"Is everything okay?" The new voice coming from the driveway immediately gained Eliza and Ronnie's attention. Oliver and Felicity walked towards the mansion, looking between the two of them. They must have pulled up between the arguing because neither of them knew they were there.

Ronnie looked back at Eliza then at her parents, he threw his hands up and walked past them as they came up. "Fucking peachy."

Oliver turned to watch him walk off down the driveway before looking back up at Eliza, the look on his face asking questions before he even opened his mouth. She shrugged, walking back inside before either of her parents could ask anything.

Despite everything her parents might have heard she just prayed Jason left out of the back door or a window because if her dad finds him there after that...She would rather not think about what would happen.


	3. Chapter 3

Eliza sat at the table in the backyard, surrounded by all of her siblings. William decided that they should get together and do something outrageous and romantic for their parents' anniversary. Nice gesture, it would definitely score them some kid points, but the last thing Eliza wanted to think about right now was love. She hadn't talked to Ronnie in about a week, not that either of them have actually tried making contact, but the way things were left just didn't feel right. Whether or not they were going to get back together didn't matter, she just didn't want him to hate her. She cared about him, just not as much as he deserves.

She watched as her siblings argued with what they were being tasked with for this anniversary dinner. Mia refused anything that required any actual work, Ada was ready to fight for the photography and Music spots but those were filled by Miriam and Owen, Rosie just wanted to make sure someone could drive her to the store so she could buy a giant poster-board for a card, and as for William, he was the cook. Set up was assigned to Eliza and Ada and clean up to Mia.

"So the thing gets set up by two people and taken down by one? You know there's so much more to clean than decorations!" Mia whined.

"Fine, you can decorate and all three of you can clean." William shook his head, looking down at the clipboard.

"Thank you."

William handed the clipboard to Owen and looked down at his watch, "Alright, they're gonna be home soon, we should disband before they get here or they'll think something's up."

The kids all nodded and started to head back inside, they came in through the slide-door in the kitchen and as soon as Eliza walked through the door their parents came in through the living room. Owen hid the clipboard behind his back, and the rest of the kids tried to play as natural as they could. But unfortunately their parents knew them a little too well.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked, studying each of them.

"Just, sibling stuff." Will answered, giving their dad a smile which again, he saw right through.

"We ordered dinner on the way home." Felicity chimed in, a bright smile on her face. "Who wants to help set the table?"

"I would," William started, "But I have to meet with some friends." He gave his siblings a nod then moved past his parents and left.

"Okay, Mia, Owen, Miriam, with me." Felicity pointed at each of them and directed them out of the kitchen.

Oliver looked at the three left but focused on the smallest. "Ada, take Rosie upstairs and get her cleaned up."

Rosie frowned, looking down at her muddy outfit. "I was playing island."

"Yeah, well you're off the island now and when you're home, you put on clean clothes for dinner."

"Why can't Eliza do it?" Ada asked, crossing her arms.

"Because I want to talk to Eliza."

Ada quickly uncrossed her arms and stood closer to Eliza, it was a habit. Whenever one of them thought the other was in trouble they would come to their defense. Even though they were 22 and Eliza was most likely _not_ in trouble, she still felt protective over her sister.

"Dad-"

"It's fine, Ada. It'll just take a second, go get Rosie cleaned up."

Ada looked over at her sister, Eliza nodded slightly to let her know it was okay to go. Ada gave her a small smile before leading Rosie out of the kitchen, Oliver, knowing Ada, waited until the sound of footsteps on the stairs got quieter before looking over at Eliza. She gave him a small smile as she leaned on the kitchen island.

"Are you okay?"

Eliza's expression dropped for a second before giving him a confused look. "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been more quiet than usual, you've been home, I haven't seen that kid running around here lately."

"That 'kid' has a name." She mumbled, looking down at the marble design on the island. "He's been busy."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm" Eliza nodded, looking back up at her dad. She could tell by the raised eyebrow that he didn't believe her, she couldn't blame him, she didn't believe it so why would he? "I'm fine, Dad."

"I would rather you be happy."

 Eliza opened her mouth to respond but luckily for her the doorbell rang before she could say anything. Oliver turned towards the hallway that lead to the front door then looked back at Eliza, "We aren't done here." He told her before walking out of the kitchen.

She let out a long breath of relief. While she might get ambushed by both of her parents later, that was future Eliza's problem. Right now, she was just going to be grateful that this was over.

"Elizabeth!"

Or not. Eliza whined quietly to herself before pushing up off of the island and walking out in to the hallway. She had barely rounded the corner when she saw Jason standing beside her dad in the doorway. She sighed, just when she thought she was done. 

"Sorry to show up unexpectedly, Mia left her jacket in the car." Jason held up a small dark green leather jacket.

"Mia has plenty of jackets." Eliza replied quickly, trying to beat her dad to any snide comment.

"Yeah." Jason handed the jacket to Oliver before taking a step closer to Eliza. "I also wanted to talk to you."

Eliza looked at her dad then at Jason. "Why don't you stay for dinner? We'll have plenty of food."

"When do you not?" Jason lowered his brows, turning towards Oliver. "I don't want to intrude."

Oliver glanced at Eliza then shook his head. "Elizabeth is right, we'll have plenty of food."

She wasn't expecting him to go along with that so easily. She saw a long conversation in her future, but anything that helped push it off she was okay with. Besides, having Jason around wasn't _completely_ terrible, and it wasn't like she was doing anything wrong, she's newly single, she can do whatever she wants.


	4. Chapter 4

Family is the most important thing to Chloe. Her Mom, Her Dad, Her sister, they meant the whole world to her. Ronnie, being the grandson of her dad's old Firestorm counterpart, was also family. She loved him so much, nothing he did could ever change that. Except maybe showing up at 4 in the morning and waking her up after a long night. She stood in the living room of her family's small house, half-asleep, her hair up in a messy bun and her sweater dropping to her knees, staring at this wide awake idiot standing in front of her at _4 in the morning_.

"What the fuck?" Chloe mumbled in a whisper, walking away from Ronnie and to the couch. Ronnie followed her inside, closing the door quietly behind him.

"I have to go to New York." He sat down on the couch at the same time she did, she looked at him with confusion. "I want to go to New York." Chloe continued to look at him with confusion and growing frustration. He looked around the living room then back at her. "I don't want to go alone."

"Ask Eliza."

He shook his head violently. "Cannot do that."

"Why?"

"We aren't together anymore."

"Maybe this will fix that, goodnight." Chloe stood up but was quickly pulled back down onto the couch.

"I haven't talked to her in a week, I can't just ask her to go across the country with me."

"Oh, but you can do that to me?" She leaned back on the couch, crossing her arms. "What's up with this sudden New York trip?"

"Eliza and her family had dinner with Jason."

"You just said you haven't talked to her, how do you know that?"

Ronnie pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed Chloe the screen, it was some Instagram post Mia made and tagged everyone in. Jason and Eliza were in the back of the picture, seemingly in their own world. Whatever that was.

Chloe took his phone and closed the app before handing it back to him. "Don't do that to yourself."

"I'm not." He said as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. "Because _we_ are driving to New York to see my brother and his fiance and I'm staying off of social media the whole way."

Chloe gave Ronnie a small smile, he really had this whole avoiding reality thing planned out, it was cute. "No." She stood back up and headed towards the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.

"Clo!" Ronnie jumped up, racing her to the stairs and stopping her before she could leave. "Please? I can't stay here."

"You're hundreds of miles away from them, stay off social media here, spend time with your mom."

"I already told Bryce I was going to New York, and if it were a jumpship thing, I would go alone but it's not. It's actually driving across the country."

"And who decided that using the Jumpship was a bad idea suddenly?"

"If I used the Jumpship, I would be in New York in less than an hour. What good is that gonna do?"

"Then give me your phone." She held out her hand, Ronnie stared at her, waiting for her to give in. As much as she hated it, she usually did give in. She loved her family and she would do anything for them. That included Ronnie.

She sighed, crossing her arms. She could see the smile forming on his face before she even spoke a word, "When do we leave?" She asked, frustration settling and tiredness growing. Sleep was done, it was coffee time.

"Whenever is fine with me."

"Your things are already in the car, aren't they?"

He nodded, looking around the living room. Chloe scoffed, shaking her head. "Let me get some things together, start some coffee. We'll leave in an hour."

* * *

 

The first few hours in the car were quiet, the only talking was the radio because no songs play before 9AM, only radio shows. Chloe and Ronnie would take turns changing the channel, eventually settling on one because no matter how many times they change it, it doesn't get better. Before leaving Central City, Ronnie stopped off at a store and bought like 3 cases of pre-made cold coffee and stuffed them into a cooler. For any other person on the planet this much coffee would be alarming but Chloe was pretty sure it was the only thing keeping Ronnie alive.

The first motel they checked into was small and in the middle of nowhere, it didn't make sense why they were still in business because if she wasn't half of a supernova she would never stay there, and if she weren't with Ronnie, she wouldn't even stop. But she was half supernova and she was with Ronnie, so this is where they stayed.

Their room was small, only one bed and a big chair, both facing the tv, in between the door and the bathroom. It was cold and quiet, there was only 2 other people in the whole motel so that was to be expected. But she thought the car ride would be louder, tomorrow easily could be, but today wasn't.

She lowered her brows and looked over at Ronnie from the bed, he was laying in the chair, his legs over one arm and his head resting on the other. He paid her no attention as he flipped through the pages of a book he picked out of his suitcase.

"You okay?" She asked, her voice not exactly a whisper but close.

He turned his head away from the book but his eyes stayed locked onto it. "Mmhmm." He nodded once before moving his head back to it's previous position.

She pouted, leaning back in bed. For what it's worth, she didn't feel anything was wrong. He just seemed calmer than usual and considering all the caffeine he had, that should be impossible. "Want your phone?"

He shook his head as he turned another page. He stared at it for a minute before looking up at Chloe. "We should find a landmark."

"What?"

"A tourist trap." He stuffed a piece of paper in between the two pages of his book and closed it, rolling out of the chair and to his feet. "I want a stupid t-shirt."

Chloe let out a small laugh as she sat up, there was the energetic guy she knew. "Okay. Where do you wanna go?"

"I don't know." He frowned, she could tell the small mouse inside of his brain was running in circles. "Let's find a fancy gas station."

"That....Is not a landmark."

"No, but the closest landmark is Yellowstone and that's out of our way." Ronnie paced in front of the bed, Chloe shot him a surprised expression which got her a confused one in return. "What?"

"You did that without a map?"

"My Granddad was Martin Stein. My mother is brilliant. I'm nowhere near either of them, but I do know some stuff."

Chloe threw her hands up, leaning back down in bed. "So, a gas station then?"

He nodded. "Yeah, this way we can have some fun on this long journey, and New York is expensive and I have people who expect gifts when we get back."

"Lily?"

"No, but I'm gonna get her something." He said as he sat back down in his chair. "Like a keychain."

"Dream big."

"Well gas stations don't sell better sons so she's just gonna have to appreciate it."

 Chloe let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "Get some rest, tomorrow you drive."

* * *

The next few days were significantly louder and more energetic, the further the two of them got from home the more open and normal Ronnie was. As annoying as it can be to wake up with Ronnie as a roommate, Chloe liked this version of him better than the one who was obviously avoiding his problems. That version sucked, and even if that version was still inside of him somewhere the loud one overtook it.

While driving to New York they passed a lot of cute little towns and attractions, one of which being a Mini-golf place that was Fortnite themed. Chloe was driving when the billboards started approaching and she could sense the excitement in Ronnie as they got closer, as much as she could love to get to New York she knew this was a necessary detour. They were both competition driven and the whole point of a roadtrip, of driving across the country, is to make fun stops along the way. And this happened to be one of them.

They spent 2 hours at Mini-golf, wanting to take advantage of the whole course, it was huge, Chloe thought she'd never make it out of Dusty Divot, Ronnie had the time of his life watching her fail and hit a tree every time she tried to re-arrange her ball. But all fun must end at some point and it was time they get back to their journey. Once they finished with Mini-golf they went to find some food nearby.

While having their late lunch/early dinner, they were talking about the gift shop outside of the Mini-golf place, they had looked in the windows as they passed by and giving it a second thought, it might be a great place to buy souvenirs. So after lunch they went back and played around the gift shop for another half hour.

They decided to share gifts for the team, Ronnie knows Adam and Nadia more than Chloe and Chloe knows Ocean more than Ronnie so it made sense to put both their names on the gifts for the Legends.

But individually, Ronnie found something for HD, Roman, and Isaac with no trouble. It was his mom that was hard. He wanted to get something nice, but he _was_ in a Fortnite themed gift-shop and what exactly would his mom like in here? He went over everything the store had to offer and eventually settled for a blue plush llama, knowing he'd be stopping somewhere in New York to find a Beebo because that would make him the best son in the universe. or the worst. Either way he was willing to pay the price. Literally and figuratively.

When it came time to checkout Ronnie starting messing with the small plushies by the register, he had already given Chloe the money for his half so she could just check everything out at once while he did what he does best and touch things.

He found a bin filled with "Special Event" characters and started sorting through them. There was the Yeti that Chloe was buying for Sophie and a rocky lava guy sitting on top. Ronnie picked up the lava one and studied it for a minute before pulling his wallet out of his pocket and giving them both to Chloe. She looked at the plush then at Ronnie, giving him a small smirk before adding it to the pile.

He continued looking in the bin while Chloe finished up, one of the plushies sticking out like a sore thumb. A set of deformed purple zombies. He picked them up, letting out a small sigh before setting them back in the bin. Chloe tapped him on the shoulder as soon as he did.

"Ready to go?" She asked, her voice gentle having clearly seen his reaction to the stuffed zombies. He gave her a sad smile and nodded and off they went. Back on their journey. Chloe assumed after the zombie incident that Ronnie would go back into his shell of odd quietness but he was just as loud as ever once they got rolling.

He dug the lava guy out of the bag of randomness and sat it on the car dashboard. "There you go little buddy." He said quietly as he adjusted the plush to sit facing the road ahead of them.

"Was he necessary?" Chloe asked, trying not to laugh. She knew exactly why he wanted to buy it and it was adorable.

"Yes!" Ronnie replied, his tone of voice sounding completely offended. He laughed a second later as he put the bag back behind his seat. "He's our brother, no firestorms left behind."

"When's the last time you called Martina?" She glanced over at Ronnie for a split second before focusing back on the road. She could see it immediately hit Ronnie as soon as she said it.

He was quiet for almost a minute. "Shit. This doesn't count as touching my phone. This is important." He laughed, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening his texts. "I texted her the other day." He tried to defend himself as he typed on his keyboard, clearly feeling bad for not staying in closer touch.

In his defense, he's had a lot going on and he's either in Central City or on a time ship and Martina lived in Coast City. He wouldn't keep in touch with Chloe if he didn't need to see her at least once a week.

"We should stop by Coast City on our way home." Chloe suggested. "I'd love to see her."

"When's the last time _you_ called her?"

"Tuesday."

Ronnie pulled down his phone's notification bar to look at the day because at this point he doesn't know what day it is. Thursday. He glared at Chloe and put his phone back in his pocket. "I'm a terrible friend, you feel better now?"

"Yes." She smiled, "Where's the next motel?"

* * *

She could almost cry when they crossed over the bridge into New York City. It was truly a bittersweet moment. Plus she had stayed up all night because she's restless and was honestly just ready to get to final destination. Also she and Ronnie watched Final Destination on the tv in the hotel, which judging by his current mood was not helpful for either of them.

For her, she just isn't a fan of scary, gory movies in weird settings. She doesn't want to have nightmares and then wake up in a strange place.

For Ronnie, he didn't mind the horror genre but it was rarely his first choice. When he started dating Elizabeth she had given him a list of essential horror films and he was supposed to watch all of them before date number 2. He did. He went sleepless for about 2 days but he watched the movies. And now anything scary or gory just reminds him of her and that's what they're trying to avoid.

Aside from texting Martina a few days ago, he still hadn't been on his phone as often as he usually is when he's bored and away from a gaming system. Which he did pack,of course. He had a Nintendo Switch under his seat that he'd occasionally pick up and mess around with before putting it back under the seat. She'd like to say he's doing better since they left the city but he's just gotten better at hiding it.

She's done most of the driving on this trip because his head is just somewhere else. She couldn't blame him, he'd spent 2 years with Eliza and she meant so much to him, she still does. But he's reached a point where it just felt like more than it's worth to fight for her. He's had people come in and out of his life so often, people that he's known for most of his life just get up and leave with no explanation and no matter how hard he tries they always leave so why fight it?

She's watched Ronnie go through breakups but never one that required a roadtrip across the country. He's been hurt before, he needs time but he gets over it. He surrounds himself with friends and he's fine in a couple of weeks. But Eliza was different. He didn't want to be over it, she could tell. He told Eliza that he wanted her to be happy, he left her in all technicality. But she was still the first thing on his mind when he sees something even vaguely close to something she's mentioned.

The plush zombies really drove him off an edge Chloe wasn't sure she could get him back from. He wasn't great at talking about his feelings, she was hoping maybe his older brother Bryce would break him.

Bryce was a few years older, much more mature from what Chloe's heard but she's never actually met him. He's Ronnie's half-brother, his dad had him before meeting Lily and Ronnie didn't really meet him until after his dad left a few years back but they quickly bonded and now it's like they were always in each other's lives.

Bryce knew about Firestorm and the Legends, Ronnie's terrible at keeping secrets, but he trusted him and Chloe couldn't be mad at him for that. If her sister didn't know she would tell her. Though, luckily for her, Sophie did know because she had the ice powers for the fire & ice duo.

It took them another hour or so to actually get to Bryce's apartment but once they did Ronnie seemed fine again. He had chugged down 2 coffees in the past hour so it might just be the rush of caffeine, Chloe knew that's exactly what it was but she was going to let Bryce handle this one. She was done.


	5. Chapter 5

The sound of an alarm on Saturday morning was the worst sound in the whole universe. Screw your nails on a chalkboard, this shit sucked. Maybe it was the hangover, but this was just awful. Eliza sat up and hit her alarm clock to shut it up and a wave of nausea hit her like a bullet. Definitely the hangover.

She let out a groan, slowly pushing herself up against the headboard of her bed, trying not to cross a line that would end with vomit on the floor. She couldn't even remember what she had to drink last night, all she knew was it was strong and she wasn't the only one drinking it. She glanced around her room, part of her expected Ronnie to be on the floor beside her bed but she was alone. She didn't know if she should be disappointed or relieved, either way she needed water and some pills for this headache.

As if on cue, there was a small knock on her door as it slowly opened. Jason poked his head in, saw her up and awake and let himself in, shutting the door behind him. He had a tray of food in his hands that he sat down beside Eliza as he made himself comfortable by her feet. "Good morning." He gave her a bright smile, she wanted to punch him. How was he so alive?

She glanced at the food, made a face then looked at him. "Did the Lazarus Pit give you the ability to not get hangovers?"

He let out a small laugh, "I've learnt a few tricks on how to avoid them, or at the very least make them less of bitch to deal with." He reached over to the food tray and held up a piece of toast to Eliza. "Eat."

She made the face again, the face that said if she even smells that toast she's gonna vomit, she tried her best to avoid even looking at it, leaning as far back as she could. Jason gave her a look she should be getting from her parents. "It'll help." He held the piece of bread closer.

She whined, taking it from him. "You're cleaning it up if I puke." She warned before taking a very small bite. She slowly sat up and took another bite, "I thought you'd be gone." She admitted.

Jason almost looked offended but the expression passed quickly. "Where would I go? It's 8:30 in the morning."

Eliza whined again, "I hate everything!"

"I should get back home at some point though, Tim will have a panic attack if I miss training again."

She gave him a sad smile. "But you just said you don't have anywhere to go."

"It's just an open window, if anyone wants to make a surprise appearance, I'll go to training. If we're alone all day, I'm yours."

She tried her best to contain the smile creeping on her face. A terrible hangover & an alarm clock on a Saturday morning stood no chance against Jason. He always found a way to make her happy. Most of that probably came from the rush of emotions of a first love back from the dead, but it made her feel warm and fuzzy. It was nice. She didn't hate it.

They spent the next few hours sitting in her bed, watching stupid videos on YouTube. It was a nice change to the way her morning started until there was another knock on her door. Jason and Eliza shared a look before Jason climbed over Eliza, rolling to his feet and towards the window on the other side of the room by the time the door opened.

"Eliza, you've been in bed all morning-" Mia started as she walked in, she immediately spotting Jason. A smirk appeared on her face as she looked between him and her sister. "Well, now I know why you've been in bed all morning." 

Jason looked down at the floor then at Eliza, her expression a mix of annoyed and embarrassed. He looked over at Mia, "It's not like that."

"Oh?" Mia crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him. She was trying to challenge him, he knew her too well for that. "What's it like then?"

"None of your business." He copied her smirk, her smile only got bigger though it faded a few seconds later.

"Mom and Dad are on their way home." She said, looking over at Eliza again.

Eliza looked over at Jason, he was already picking up his things.

"Had it been anyone else in your bedroom, I would let it slide. But I would rather Jason not end up on the wrong side of an arrow." She continued, uncrossing her arms. "They're ETA is like 5 minutes so I'd go out the back."

"I'm good with a window." He said, sliding his arms into his jacket.

Mia turned to leave the room but was blocked by Ada. Eliza groaned. Why not just invite Rosie and Miriam and make it a sister party?

"What's he doing here?" Ada asked, looking directly at Jason with a glare as Mia moved passed her.

"Leaving." Jason answered for her, he leaned over and gave Eliza a quick kiss before opening up the window and climbing out onto the roof.

Ada waited for the window to close before looking at her sister. "E.T-"

"I don't want to hear it." Eliza stopped her before she could start, She knew how Ada felt about Jason. She knew how everyone in her family felt. Mia was the only one rooting for him, Her dad only let him stay for dinner because he thought it would open up a conversation later, it didn't.

"This is stupid." Ada continued anyway. "You can't honestly tell me you want to be with him?"

"You've only ever been with JJ, imagine if you broke up and after a few years you had a chance to be with him again-"

"No, don't make this a relatable situation, he hurt you."

"It wasn't his fault."

"I don't care if he was 'going through something' He was still gone for 5 years, dead or not. He put you in a bad place for a long time and then comes back when you're finally out of it and happy."

Eliza knew this lecture wasn't going to end until their parents got there, and there was no point in trying to stop Ada, when she set her mind to something she was going to stick with it until she was done. Raising her must have been hell for their parents.

"I thought we all agreed to stick to dating within this earth? I don't want to see you get hurt again, Eliza."

"How is time travel any different than another earth?"

"Ronnie never hurt you."

No but his name did, a lot. She was happy with Jason but it worried her that she hasn't even seen Ronnie online. He's usually on constantly, talking to HD, making fun of Chloe, something. But he hasn't been online in a week. She tried not to think about it, it wasn't any of her business anyway. Just like this wasn't any of Ada's.

"You and JJ have been married since we were born, Ada. Not all of us get a soulmate the second we pop out of the womb. You don't know what happened with any of my relationships. No, Ronnie never hurt me but Jason didn't either. That crazy psychopath that killed him did. So maybe don't lecture me about my relationship choices without the full story." She said as she got out of bed. "I love you, you know I love you, but I'm with Jason now and that is my choice. My opinion is the only one that matters here."

Ada sighed, studying her sister for a minute before speaking again. "You should at least think about what you're throwing away."

"Ada, don't start this again."

"I saw the way you looked at Ronnie and I've seen the way you look at Jason now and it's not the same." She uncrossed her arms and shrugged. "But like you said, it's your choice. I just hope you made the right one." And in typical Ada fashion she walked out, leaving Eliza with her thoughts.

She didn't need to be left with her thoughts. She cared about Ronnie but he wasn't Jason. He was never gonna be and it wasn't fair to him for her to keep holding him to that standard. He's a great guy, he's gonna make someone really happy one day. But she had her guy and now that he's back she isn't letting him go again. She really felt like this was who she was supposed to be with, he was the one for her.

If you love something let it go and if it comes back it's meant to be, right? He came back.

 


	6. Chapter 6

About an hour after getting to Bryce's apartment, Chloe was asleep on the guest bed in the middle of the clothes she'd unpacked but never actually put away. She was sleeping so peacefully but so lightly that Ronnie pushed off the unpacking and just went into the living room. They'd planned on staying a few days but after that trip, they might be staying longer. Ronnie wasn't sure Chloe could take another 42 hours on the road and even if they were gonna leave when they originally planned it was probably gonna be because Ronnie called the Waverider to pick up them and the car and drop them off in Central City. Actually yeah, that's probably what they'll do no matter when they leave. _He_ couldn't take another 42 hours on the road. He was tired of being contained in one stop for hours at a time, he hasn't touched a PlayStation in days and it was killing him inside.

He paced around the living room for a minute by himself before Bryce walked out of the back office and joined him. It took Ronnie a second before realizing he was no longer alone, once he did he stopped pacing and gave a nod to Bryce. "Hey."

Bryce narrowed his eyes, studying him for a minute. "You alright?"

He nodded again, crossing his arms. "Why wouldn't I be?" He knew exactly why he wouldn't be, but Bryce didn't. He was gonna keep it that way too.

"You seem off, not as loud as usual." Bryce copied his little brother and crossed his arms. "You decided to cross the country randomly and you brought Chloe _not_ Elizabeth."

Fuck. "Chloe loves New York." He ignored the rest of what Bryce said, making his way to the couch and sitting down, Bryce followed him, taking the seat next to him.

"What happened?" His brother asked in the same concerned and caring tone he would have gotten from his mother, the tone he was trying to avoid. Brothers were supposed to be assholes, why was Bryce so nice?

"I'd rather not talk about this right now."

Bryce nodded, looking around the bright living room. There wasn't a ton of clutter since he and his fiance had just moved in not long ago, there was just basic furniture, couch, chairs, coffee table, 2 bookshelves on either side of the tv. A nice starter home. But just because it was a nice mature adult set up didn't mean that they were boring people. Bryce glanced at Ronnie before standing up and walking over to the bookshelf on the right, he took two controllers off of the top shelf and tossed one to his brother.

Luckily Ronnie was watching him and caught the controller. "You could have killed me!" He said in a very over-dramatic tone.

Bryce laughed, "Calm down." He took his seat beside Ronnie, reaching for the remote on the coffee table and turning on the tv. "You'd have, at most, a concussion. But even that's unlikely. You're head's too thick."

"You wonder why I don't visit more. I'm telling Callie you tried to murder me." Ronnie readjusted his position on the couch to better face the tv. He didn't know what they were about to play but he wanted to make sure he could kick Bryce's ass at whatever it was.

Bryce went through a long list of digital games he had installed on his system and clicked on The Escapists 2. "The objective is to be the first one to escape, we aren't a team, we're on our own-"

"I should be offended you think I don't already know what this is."

Bryce looked over at Ronnie, and laughed again. He shook his head and looked at the tv in front of them. "Alright, good luck to you then."

* * *

Hours passed and the two of them still sat in front of the tv playing this prison game. Bryce almost escaped a few times but Ronnie usually messed it up by setting the prison on lockdown and getting him caught. This time he had it though, he had everything he needed. He just needed to get to main gate before-

"Damn it, Ronnie." He laughed, leaning back on the couch as the alarms on the tv went off again.

"I didn't do it!" He said defensively, trying to get his character back to his cell before they sent the dogs after him again. "Jack did it."

"Bull."

"He did!" He reached his cell and looked over at Bryce. "Okay, Jack started it. I finished it though. That green haired bitch won't come at me again."

"You said that an hour ago." Bryce shook his head, sitting his controller down. "Can you stop starting fights with Jacksepticeye when I'm about to win?"

Ronnie considered it for a second then shook his head. "No."

"You ready to talk?" He asked, looking at his little brother. Ronnie shook his head, walking his character back out of the cell and strolled the prison again. "You can't avoid it forever."

"You're probably right, but as of this moment I'm doing an amazing job at it."

Bryce kept his eyes focused on Ronnie until he couldn't avoid him anymore. Ronnie let out a sigh and sat his controller down, glancing at Bryce.

"I broke up with her."

Bryce's expression changed from caring to confused.

"Her ex came back suddenly, she still has feelings for him, she wasn't gonna be the one to-... I want her to be happy and that wasn't with me. It's with him."

"You are the biggest idiot I have ever met." Bryce said as he sat up.

"Thanks."

"You left prematurely, so you're an idiot." Now he chose to be the mean brother, how nice.

"This is not new information, I'm called an idiot daily." Ronnie sat up. "And Chloe has already given me this speech...You weren't there, you didn't see how things changed after he came back."

Well, technically he even if he were there, he still wouldn't notice the difference because in the 2 years they were together, Bryce never really got to meet Eliza. But even from across the country he could tell that she was good for him which is why he wasn't giving up until Ronnie saw that.

"Her ex came back, what does that mean?" He asked, trying to piece together the whole story. Ronnie wasn't giving him a lot to work with but he's about 99% sure that his brother was being dramatic and should leave and go home right now and fix this.

"He died and now he's back."

"Oh." He couldn't stop it from coming out of his mouth, his brother can turn into fire and his ex girlfriend has a zombie boyfriend. "What the hell goes on over there?"

Ronnie shrugged, leaning back on the couch. They sat in silence until Callie walked in and sat down beside Bryce. She had a bright smile on her face that slowly faded when she looked between the brothers. "What's wrong?" She asked looking directly at Ronnie, her tone was also very sweet and caring and it was so much nicer than he probably deserved to be talked to.

Bryce waited a second for Ronnie to answer but he just kept his position, staring at the paused game on tv. "Elizabeth and Ronnie are having issues." He answered for him, looking at Callie. "Her ex came back, he broke up with her, it's a complicated mess."

Callie frowned, leaning over Bryce and putting her hand on Ronnie's knee. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He glanced over at her and shook his head before sitting back up. "I do want to talk about _that_ though." He said, pointing at the ring on her finger. "Congratulations. I'm really happy for you both." He gave them a smile, trying his hardest to change the conversation and to push back any negative emotions.

A stupid grin appeared on Bryce's face when he looked over at Callie, "I'm lucky she said yes." He said looking back at Ronnie.

"Have you thought about a date yet?"

They looked at each other again and shrugged. "Late Spring, early Summer." Callie answered.

"That soon?"

"Well, we've been together forever, we've lived together for years already, why not?" Bryce looked from Callie to Ronnie, he put his hand on his shoulder. "Which means you have a few months to fix whatever is going on with Eliza so your plus one doesn't go to waste."

"I'm invited?" Ronnie asked, knowing fully that he was invited to the wedding, he was just trying to change the subject again. His brother wasn't that stupid.

"I need a best man."

A smile formed on Ronnie's face but quickly faded, play it cool Stein. "That could be fun." He thought about it for a second then looked back at his brother. "Wait, this is different from the Maid of Honor, right?"

"Yeah, all you have to do is plan a bachelor party." Bryce crossed his arms and leaned back. "And your dress will be blue, Callie is gonna have...pink? So yeah, Blue or green."

"Very funny."

"No, it's actually really serious, it would be embarrassing if the Groom's Men and Bride's Maids wore the same color dresses."

Callie playfully hit Bryce on the shoulder, she looked back at Ronnie and suddenly had this look of determination in her eyes. "Do you love her?"

Ronnie froze, every part of him told him to say no. Just deny having feelings at all, it's easier. But there was a small sliver of him that knew this was his family and he didn't have to deny anything, he could be open and honest with them. He looked at the tv ahead of him again and crossed his arms over his chest, nodding very slightly, you'd miss it if you weren't looking at him.

"Fight for her. Show her how invested you are."

"Her ex-"

"I don't care." Callie stopped him, "You love her, you're afraid of getting hurt again so you're hurting yourself before she can do it. That's stupid."

"That's what I said." Bryce spoke up, looking at Callie and shaking his head.

"What if she doesn't want me back?" He asked quietly, still not looking at either of them.

Callie and Bryce shared a look before turning their heads back towards Ronnie. "Then at least you'll know for sure." His brother said.

"And you'll be able to start moving on."

Like that was going to be easy. They really haven't met Elizabeth. They don't know how hard it is to not think about her constantly, even more now than when they were together. She had that effect on people. It was a Smoak woman thing, all the girls had it. And then you add on Queen charm and you're gonna wish there a warning sign before you even consider being a part of their lives.

The Smoak/Queen girls are amazing, beautiful, smart, talented, each of them were unique in their own special ways. But they could also be Hell on earth. They held grudges better than anyone, they were all sassy, sarcastic, angry. All of them had anger like a raging fire if you pissed them off but in spite of all of that, they were the most caring people you'd ever meet and they were so hard to let go of.

He didn't want to move on, he didn't want to find someone else, he didn't want to start over. He wanted Eliza. That's it. His past girlfriends weren't anything like her and if he had to find another they weren't gonna even come close to comparing to her. She was the one for him even if he wasn't the one for her.

Ronnie let out a long breath of air and shook his head, trying to kick the thoughts out of his brain. "I'm hungry." He stood up, looking down at Callie and Bryce. "Are you hungry? We can order out."

"No." Callie said as she stood up next to him. "You're getting an actual meal in you at some point. We're cooking." She looked at Bryce and waited for him to stand up.

He threw his hands up in surrender while looking at Ronnie, standing up. "Guess we're cooking." He took the lead towards the kitchen, Callie following behind him.

"Start waking up Chloe but do it nicely." She said before disappearing into the kitchen.

Then there was one and he was left alone with his thoughts, for real this time. He looked at the tv again and sat back down, picking up his controller and unpausing the game. As soon as he did his character was punched by the one with green hair and the guards started to jump in and knock him out. "Jack, you motherfu-"

"Language." Bryce said, poking his head out of the kitchen.

Ronnie watched as he disappeared again, tossing his controller back down. It was time to wake Chloe.


	7. A few weeks later...

Eliza skipped down the stairs, leading Jason to the front door. It was almost 6 and in her perfect world she could get Jason out of the house before anyone woke up to start the day. Usually her parents would already be awake but they were out most the night dealing with a meta that even after hours of searching, they couldn't find.

It's not like she didn't want Jason around her family, they've been back together for a few weeks and surprisingly her dad was fine with it -- It was strange and she's sure he was just waiting for Jason to screw up so he can shoot him with an arrow but he hasn't shown any signs of aggression towards him or judgement towards their relationship -- What Eliza was trying to avoid was her family seeing her sneak him out of the house at 5:48 in the morning. He was out there trying to help find the meta but when Oliver sent everyone home, he showed up at her window.

Once at the front door, she stood up on her tip-toes, waiting for Jason to bend down to meet her in the middle, and gave him a quick kiss. "Be safe." She said in almost a whisper. He nodded and gave her a kiss in return.

"I'll see you tonight." He said with a smile as she dropped back to her feet. She returned his smile and opened the door for him, shutting it slowly and quietly after he walked out.

There. Done. She was in the clear. Then there was a creak on the staircase...

_shit._

"He was here again last night?"

Ada, okay she could handle Ada. She was moody in the mornings and she was even moodier where Jason was involved but she was her twin and she could handle her. She knows how to.

"What are you doing up so early?" She turned the conversation around, walking towards the kitchen. Ada was following closely behind her. "It's strange to see you up before the sun."

"Don't change the subject." Ada said flatly, leaned on the island and watched Eliza start up some coffee. "Why does he keep coming over? Doesn't he have an apartment?"

"Yeah, in another universe."

"So go to his universe, stop hooking up on the other side of my wall."

"That is not what's happening."

Ada glared at Eliza, even if she wasn't looking at her she could feel it. "Bullshit, he only comes over in the middle of the night and leaves before anyone knows he was here." She moved over to sit at down on the chair by the island.

"That isn't true, you knew he was here."

"That's because you aren't nearly as quiet as you think you are."

Eliza turned her head to return Ada's previous glare, she wanted to reply with something witty but it was too early and she wasn't as quick as her sister was so she just brought her focus back to the coffee brewing in front of her.

"Your relationship with Jason is just sex so why are you still with him?"

"Very subtle, Ady. Keep your voice down before you wake mom and dad."

"It's the truth." Ada slid off of the chair and walked over to Eliza so she couldn't keep avoiding her. "You went out with Ronnie constantly but Jason you only see when everyone is asleep. You don't even post about him."

"We have different schedules."

"Your schedules are so different that you can't even have breakfast with him?" Ada crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

Eliza let out a long breath and shrugged.

"When are you seeing him next?"

"Tonight."

"Really?"

"Yep."

Ada waited a second, watching Eliza very closely. "What are you gonna do?"

"We are..." Eliza trailed off, thinking of something. "Having dinner." She hated herself the second it came out of her mouth. She didn't want to go to dinner tonight, she just wanted to stay home and watch Netflix. Which is what she and Jason do despite what her sister seems to think.

"Oh?" Ada sounded almost amused, "Okay. Then I guess we should find a babysitter for Rosie." She said before walking off.

Eliza lowered her brows, turning around to stop Ada from leaving. "Babysitter?"

Ada turned on her heels and nodded. "Mom and Dad have a Smoak Tech thing with William and Zoe, Miriam is going to Central City for the weekend to hang out with Marley, Owen is spending the night with Theo, Mia is staying with Jocelyn, JJ and I are going to see that new Spider-man movie and apparently you have dinner with Jason."

"I can cancel!" She sounded way too willing, if Ada didn't already think she was lying she definitely thought it now.

She shook her head, a smile forming on her face. "No, have your date night. We know plenty of people who can babysit." She said before leaving the kitchen and heading back upstairs.

Eliza let out a quiet whine, she walked over to the island where her laptop was still sitting from the night before and pulled up the chat she had with Jason.

 _We have to have dinner tonight._  
_Don't ask._  
_Be here around 7?_

She sent the message and closed her laptop again. Why couldn't Ada just mind her own business? Why did she have to have the nosiest family in the world? Bex could go and do whatever she wanted and Tommy was never concerned, Liv could too and Thea never doubted her intentions. But no, the Queens had to take an extra step. But maybe after tonight Ada will see that her relationship with Jason is real and she'll back off.

Probably not. But maybe.

* * *

 Later that afternoon

* * *

Eliza spent all day trying to find the right thing to wear tonight. If she dressed up she would be accused to trying too hard and if she didn't she would be accused of not caring about Jason. Ada's entire plan was to get into her head and it worked. But it doesn't matter what Ada thinks, she loves Jason and that's what matters. That's what she kept telling herself at least. Didn't work a lot, Ada's judgement was still burned into her brain at every turn.

She knows how she feels about Jason, she's made it very clear that she has no intention of even trying to like him. Can't she stop there? Why does she have to keep pushing? How does JJ deal with this?

Eventually she just settled on a pair of black leggings and a black camo tee that she didn't even know she owned. It was almost a perfect fit, a little long. There was no way it was hers but it seemed so familiar... Probably Owen's. It was comfy though and he hasn't asked about it so she might as well wear it.

She put on some basic going-out casual make-up and kept her straight and down. She didn't know what they were going to end up doing but her outfit was appropriate for multiple settings. As long as it wasn't a 5 star fancy restaurant she was fine. And she could not see Jason taking her to somewhere any fancier than Big Belly Burger to eat.

Almost everyone in her family had already left except for her parents and Ada. Her parents were waiting on the Babysitter and she assumed Ada was waiting on Jason to show up and for Eliza to actually leave with him before she left. Boy was she gonna be disappointed when she actually did.

After she finished brushing through her blonde her she made her way downstairs, meeting up with her family in the living room. Oliver and Felicity were standing by the mirror on the wall across from the entrance, Felicity fixing his tie for him. You'd think after all this time he'd at least have that down.

JJ sat in the chair in the corner beside her parents, Ada on the arm of the chair and holding his hand in both of hers. And Rosie sat patiently on the couch, waiting for everyone to leave so she could catch up on the shows that were in no way age appropriate for a 7 year old. She was a big fan of The Walking Dead, just don't tell her parents.

When she walked in the living room everyone turned to her, she could see the surprise in everyone's faces but JJ's. He was cool, she liked him the most. This was technically her first date with Jason since getting back together so she could understand why they were shocked to see her go through with it but she was proving a point. Not that she needed to, he's had dinner with them since they got back together but apparently that wasn't enough for dear Ada.

"You look nice." Oliver gave her a smile before taking his tie back from Felicity. She pouted at him then turned to Eliza and gave her the same smile Oliver did.

"Very nice. Very casual."

Eliza shrugged, crossing her arms. "You're the ones going to an actual function, I'm just getting some food."

Ada gave JJ a knowing look, he nudged her with his arm to get her to stop. He was really earning his brother-in-law points tonight. Go JJ.

Before she could get comfortable beside Rosie there was a knock at the door and everyone's eyes were on her again. Why were they so obsessed with her tonight? Go away. Everyone mind your damn business.

She turned around and walked over to the front door, swinging it open. She gave Jason a smile. "Hi."

He returned the smile as he walked in. "Hey."

"Thank you for doing this."

"Taking my girlfriend to dinner?"

She shrugged. "I never really liked the demanding girlfriend trope and now that's what I am."

He shook his head and kissed her forehead. "You are nowhere near demanding."

She crinkled her nose at him and nodded. "Little bit."

"Maybe." He barely whispered, she playfully hit him before leading him back into the living room.

When they walked into the living room everyone was standing and looking at the two of them, except for Rosie who was still waiting on everyone to leave. Eliza was kind of curious who her babysitter was because very few people would actually let her watch The Walking Dead and all of those people were busy. Whatever, she just wanted to get this amazing date over with so she could come home and watch movies.

"Okay, well we're gonna head out." Eliza said, trying to ignore all of the eyes directed at them. "Tell William I said hey."

Oliver nodded, glancing over at Felicity. They shared a look before Felicity turned back to Eliza and gave her a smile. "Have fun."

They were acting really suspicious, more than normal. And Ada was unusually quiet and calm. This situation was weird, maybe it was good she was getting out of the house for  a few hours.

"Don't you want to stay for a drink?" Ada asked, looking directly at Jason. Eliza looked between the two of them, confusion all over her face.

Her entire family has been taken by aliens. It's happened before, it wouldn't be unbelievable.

Jason looked down at Eliza, she tried with every part of her to do the whole conversations with the eyes thing her parents do but he clearly didn't get it, he just shrugged. "We can stay a minute longer. We don't have any reservations."

"Yeah, but if we wait too long places will get busy." She pressed his arm. _Come on Jay, let's just leave._

He nodded slightly, _finally._ But before he could turn down the offer there was another knock at the door. Don't get stuck in conversation just sneak out when everyone is distracted.

Jason turned to go towards the door but Rosie slid down from the couch and ran over before he could. He turned back towards Oliver and Felicity, raising an eyebrow.

"We let her choose who was watching her tonight." Oliver answered his question before he even asked.

"Who is watching her tonight?" Eliza asked, crossing her arms and cocking her head. "She doesn't get excited over babysitters often."

Felicity and Oliver looked at each other again, Ada opened her mouth to answer but by then it was too late, she knew who it was. That's a voice you can spot in a crowd.

"Ronnie." She mumbled under her breath, turning on her heel to face the door. He walked through the door as soon as she turned around, Rosie tugging him along behind her.

He slowed to a stop when he saw Eliza and Jason standing by the entrance to the living room. He looked between the two of them and nodded. "Elizabeth."

"Ronald." Jason put his arm around Eliza and gave him a friendly nod that was complete BS. Eliza wanted to curl up into a ball and die. That would be less painful than this.

Rosie looked between the three of them before pulling on Ronnie's arm. "Let's go." She started walking, dragging him behind again.

He took one last look at Eliza before being forced into the living room. "Nice shirt." 

Eliza looked down at her shirt then back at Ronnie, Rosie had directed him to sit down on the couch while she basically forced their parents out the door behind Eliza and Jason.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, looking from Ronnie to Eliza. She shrugged, grabbing his hand.

"Let's just go."


	8. --Continued

_**A few hours earlier** _

It's been a few weeks since Ronnie and Chloe's trip to New York and by this point he should have at least texted Eliza. He has not. She seemed happy, he wasn't going to fuck it up. Callie and Bryce texted at least once every day to ask if he's talked to her yet but he just avoids the question, giving them the answer without actually saying it. Why go and get hurt again when you can just start moving on? It's less heartbreak this way. If Eliza told him to his face that she didn't love him, that would suck. Imagining her saying it is much less painful. Besides, Central City is a world away and his friends kept him busy when he isn't on the Waverider, he was doing fine.

"Ronnie, it's been 10 minutes. What the hell are you doing?" HD asked from the couch, trying to keep track of him as he did circles around the house.

"My shirt is missing." He answered, walking back out of his room and dropping to the floor to look under the couch. "It was here. It's not here now."

"What shirt?"

"The..." He stood back up and walked over to the mess of laundry sitting in a chair across from the couch. "Black one."

"Ronnie, you have thousands of black shirts, be more specific." HD sat up, watching him throw clothes onto the floor.

"The camo one."

HD rolled his eyes. "I have the same shirt, if it means that much to you, you can have it."

"No." He said defensively, looking back at HD before going back to tossing clothes around. "I want mine. I just had it...Like 5 months ago I had it."

"Why do you need this specific shirt anyway?"

"Because I have... A date." Saying it felt weird, but thinking about it felt weirder.

HD seemed just as surprised as he was when he said it. It was with one of Dinah's friends, she seemed nice enough from what he's heard but he hasn't actually met her yet. This whole thing was set up on the spot, he got a text from Dinah asking if he'd be interested in going out with her friend, he said why not because...he's an idiot and doesn't think things through, and then she sent him the girl's phone number.

They were supposed to meet up at a bar downtown tonight but if he can't find this shirt then what's the point of going? This was self-sabotage. The shirt didn't mean that much, he had plenty of other shirts and HD offered his but for some reason he kept looking. Another 30 minutes passed until he finally gave up and fell back onto the couch beside HD.

"It's gone forever, it's never coming back."

"Dude, I will buy you another one if you stop being dramatic." HD looked over at him then went back to texting Liv.

"I have the grey one, it's over there on the floor." Ronnie pointed to the pile of clothes that were previously on the chair.

HD put his phone down and looked at Ronnie again, he narrowed his eyes and shook his head before pulling his phone back up. "I have to meet Liv. Do you want the shirt?"

Ronnie shook his head. "I'll be fine. I have more black shirts."

"Why not just wear the grey one?" He asked as he stood up, looking between the pile of clothes and Ronnie.

He shrugged. "It's not my style."

"It's the same shirt!"

"It's not."

"It's the same style just a different color!"

Ronnie opened his mouth to respond but his phone went off in his pocket, he held up his hand to HD while he slid his phone out to check it.

"Is it Kate?"

He shook his head, opening up the text. "Ada."

"Why?"

Ronnie took a second to read the text then looked up at HD. "Rosemary needs a babysitter."

"I can't tonight, I'm going out with Liv." HD replied, thinking Ronnie meant him.

"They gave her a choice and for whatever reason, whether it be everyone is busy and she had no other options or what, she chose me." Confusion set in quickly, he didn't know why a 7 year old, Eliza's little sister, would prefer him over everyone else in her family. He assumed Eliza had went back to LA so it makes sense why she can't babysit, He saw Miriam and Marley downtown earlier, but that family had tons of members why did they need someone else? And why was Ada sending the text?

"Well, you do let her watch inappropriate shows."

"The Walking Dead is a fucking masterpiece, she's finally caught up to the newer seasons." 

"I doubt a 7 year old should be allowed to-"

"Shut up." He glanced at HD before responding to the text.

"You gonna do it?"

Ronnie took a second to think, on the one hand he really needed to go on this date tonight, get the ball rolling and start moving on with his life. On the other hand...Rosemary was like his little sister and if she did choose him to watch her, he couldn't say no. He let out a long breath and finally replied.

  _Tell her I'll see her at 7_

Dinah was going to kill him for cancelling on Kate but his reason behind it should get him some good guy points, right? He canceled because he had to watch a kid. Just make sure to leave out the part where the kid is your ex's little sister and you'll be fine. It's fine.

* * *

  _ **Now** _

* * *

After everyone left the Queen residence and it was just Rosie and Ronnie they put on the first episode of The Walking Dead. About half way through she gave him the big puppy eyes and leaned her head on his arm. "You know what would go great with a show about zombies?" She asked in the sweetest tone he's ever heard in his life.

"Hot chocolate?" He asked, looking down at her. She nodded. "Your father said-"

"Mom makes the rules and mom let's me have Hot Chocolate before bed." She was quick to the punch on that one, she's definitely rehearsed this.

"It's eight."

"And my bedtime is nine." She sat up, looking at him like she was an adult who knew what she was doing. He wondered what that felt like. "It'll take ten minutes to make and fifteen to cool, and the rest of the time will be spent drinking it. Head on the pillow by nine sharp."

She was so Felicity's kid. He sighed, standing up. "No marshmallows."

She shrugged, clearly this didn't hurt her feelings. "We're out anyway."

"Did you eat all of the marshmallows?" He looked down at her then rolled his eyes at himself. "What am I saying? Of course you did. Let's go." He nodded towards the kitchen.

Rosie jumped up from couch and ran to the kitchen, Ronnie followed behind her. Once the hot chocolate was done they made their way back into the living room and on the couch. They watched through another episode and a half of The Walking Dead before Rosie was passed out on the other end of the couch, Ronnie looked over at the clock on the wall then over at Rosie.

"Well, it's not 9:00 sharp but...10:30 is fine, I guess?" He whispered as he stood up. He looked down at her for another minute, trying to debate whether he should move her or let her rest on the couch until her parents got home. She seemed pretty out of it so he decided to just move her to her room, she was already in her pajamas so she was ready for bed.

As delicately as he could, he picked up Rosie and brought her up the stairs and to her bedroom. Luckily the door was slightly open but if it wasn't he would just move her to one of the other 600 beds in this house. He put her down on her bed and tossed a blanket over her, taking the stuffed bear at the end of it and putting it beside her just in case. He stayed for a second to make sure she didn't wake up then he left, returning the door to it's previous slightly ajar status before making his way back downstairs.

The next ten to fifteen minutes were quiet, he sat on the couch and scrolled through Instagram, the vigilante documentary was playing again on one of the news channels so he had it on in the background while he waited for Oliver and Felicity to get back. Or Ada. Or Eliza. Preferably not Eliza because with Eliza comes Jason and who wants that? He was supposed to be moving on not having run ins with his ex and her new boyfriend.

Maybe it was his fault, he was babysitting her little sister. But that was for Rosemary, she was a good kid and he cared about her. Just because things are over with Eliza doesn't mean he drops everyone else. If Miriam ever called him and needed help, he'd be there in a second. Same goes for Ada and Owen. Hell, if Mia called and honestly _needed_ him, he would go. He didn't have a problem with Mia, she had a problem with him. That problem being that he wasn't Jason. Ronnie understood that, he helped train her, he was the cool boyfriend when she was younger who would let her eat sugar and see R-rated movies.

At that point Miriam was probably around Rosie's age, she didn't have an opinion, she wasn't attached to anyone but her family. By the time Ronnie came around he had already met Miriam at Star Labs and on the Waverider so she saw him as a Rental Brother before he even started dating Eliza. Ada was hesitant at first, either thinking he wasn't gonna last more than a week or he was gonna hurt Eliza like her last serious boyfriend. She was very on guard and watched him closely, but she's gotten a lot better in the last 2 years. She at least pretends to like him now. Not that it matters anymore.

The locks on the front door clicked and snapped Ronnie from his endless scrolling. He almost forgot he was on Instagram, hopefully he didn't like any weird pictures while he was stuck in his head.

He shoved his phone in his pocket as he stood up, he looked over at the tv and debated whether he should take these last 3 seconds to change the channel or not. Ultimately he decided against it. It was a good documentary. He made his way to the front door as soon as it opened and just his luck, it was the two people he didn't want to see again tonight. Well, he wanted to see Eliza. Jason... Ehh...

As Eliza lead Jason through the front door she froze. "Ronnie." She forced a smile, trying to keep it natural and not awkward which was filling her entire body. She looked at Jason then back at Ronnie. "You're still here."

Ronnie raised an eyebrow. "If I left your sister alone, your father would kill me."

"Right, Rosie..." Eliza looked around Ronnie, trying to peak into the living room. "Where is she?"

"In bed."

"Cool." She nodded, glancing at Jason again then back at Ronnie. "So, what do we owe you?"

_2 years of my life._

"Nothing." He crossed his arms. "She's great. I didn't mind watching her."

The three of them stood there in silence for a few seconds before Jason turned to Eliza. "I should get going."

"Do you have to?"

"The whole point of this date was to not end up back in your bed." He said, glancing over at Ronnie. He gave Eliza a quick kiss before walking back out of the house.

Honestly, he was a little bit surprised that Jason just left without a sarcastic comment. Sure, the bed comment was a little bit of a dick move but that was fine. Then again, maybe he knew if he left, the awkwardness would only get worse between him and Eliza. Thinking about it, that's probably exactly why he left.

Because now it was just the two of them standing in silence which somehow was worse. What do you do here? Do you leave? Eliza's home, Rosie is safe in bed. He did his job he could leave. But then there's this weight that has been on his shoulders since he came back from New York, the texts from his brother and his soon to be Sister-in-law telling him to talk to her. He wanted to he just didn't know where to start.

"What was the shirt comment about?" She said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"Before I left, you said 'nice shirt'." She used finger quotations, something she only ever really did when she was being sarcastic or if she was frustrated. "What was that supposed to mean?"

Ronnie looked at her shirt and thought about it. He could lie. But what he said bothered her to the point that she spent all night thinking about what it meant and then asked about it so she deserved the truth, right? "It's mine." He said flatly.

Her expression went defensive for a split second before it dropped completely. The realization of why it's so familiar hit her like a bullet. A part of her knew this was Ronnie's shirt, but every other part of her shut that part up by passing it off as Owen's. She was an idiot.

"I..I can give it back."

Ronnie shook his head. "Don't worry about it, it looked better on you."

"But you love this shirt, just like you love that colorful hoodie." She said as she tugged the bottom of the shirt. "It's comfy and it's yours and you and HD have matching ones."

"I can buy another one. It's fine,  Liz."

She looked down at the shirt and frowned. It wasn't fine. He loved this shirt. She's surprised he hasn't sent out a search team looking for it sooner. She looked back up at him, "I'm gonna give it back."

"Liz-"

"It's not mine, it's yours. You gave me back my Mabel Sweater, I can give you back the shirt." She walked towards the stairs. "Stay here."

Ronnie grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "It's not that important."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? You haven't looked for it at all?"

"Well...I looked for it earlier for like 5 minutes-"

"See?"

"In the end plans changed and I didn't need it anyway, keep it."

Eliza rolled her eyes before a curious expression appeared on her face. "What do you mean plans changed?"

Ronnie took a step back from Eliza and crossed his arms. "It's nothing. I meant nothing by it."

"Ronnie, you are a terrible liar." She stepped towards him. "Spill it."

She's dating Jason, she was openly dating him, there was no reason Ronnie should feel bad for simply having a date. A date he didn't even go on. But even if she was with someone else now, hearing that he's moving on might upset her and he didn't want to risk that.

"Ronnie..."

"I was just meeting some friends tonight."

Eliza studied him for a minute, crossing her arms. She was usually really good at reading people and Ronnie being a terrible liar was just an added bonus. After a minute or two passed she took a deep breath and backed up a step. "You had a date."

He looked down at his feet for a second then back up at her, nodding. "Yeah."

"Sorry you had to cancel." She sounded genuine, he could tell she wanted to say more but decided against it. The house was soon silent again though it didn't last long. A minute passed and Oliver and Felicity came through the front door a few feet away.

They both looked between Ronnie and Eliza then at each other. "Sorry we're late." Felicity said, giving Oliver her coat and walking over to them. "How was the little monster?"

"She was great."

"No problems?" Oliver asked, walking up beside Felicity.

He shook his head. "No, she had some hot chocolate and went right out."

Felicity pulled Oliver's wallet out of his coat pocket and opened it up but Ronnie threw his hand up. "No, I don't need anything. Rosie is no trouble, had it been Mia I would want pay."

"Who wouldn't?" Eliza mumbled under her breath, Felicity shot her a glare and she put her hands up in defense before making her way back to the staircase. "Goodnight."

"Thank you for watching her, do you need us to call Sara?" Felicity offered but Ronnie just shook his head. 

"I'm gonna stay with Isaac tonight. Rebecca was called into the hospital so..." He passed by Oliver and Felicity and turned around. "I'll see you at some point, I'm sure."

"Be safe." Felicity gave him a small wave before he left.

All and all that went better than expected. Now if he can get passed Dinah without her wanting his blood for cancelling on the blind date, he'll be golden.


	9. Chapter 9

"Jason Todd-"

"Elizabeth Queen."

"This isn't your fight." Eliza grabbed Jason's arm and pulled him away from the bunker elevator, dragging him far enough away so that no one could easily listen in.

"No, It's not." Jason agreed, "But it isn't theirs either and they're still out there fighting." He pointed to the rest of the teams, looking directly at Eliza.

"The Legends are coming, they'll have plenty of help." She stood by her point, last time he went after someone he knew nothing about he ended up dead. She knew better than to just let him leave. "Stay with me, watch the cameras, wait for the Legends, listen for information-"

"Jay, you coming?" Jocelyn poked out from the elevator. Jason looked at her then glanced down at Eliza. Her tone was frustrated, her expression was pissed, but her eyes were terrified. She'd never admit it but he could see it. He looked back over at Jocelyn and shook his head.

"I'm gonna wait and head out when the Legends get here."

Jocelyn nodded before disappearing back into the elevator. The Team Vet's were in Coast City dealing with their yearly drama so this meta was up to the Next Generation of heroes and vigilantes. Right now it was just Team Arrow and Team Flash, The Supers, Bats & Legends were on their way but no ETA as of yet. The elevator door soon shut and everyone else left on bikes, leaving Eliza, William and Jason in the bunker.

After an hour Team Flash finally showed up, behind them was the Supers and then the Bats. With each arrival Eliza watched Jason, trying to see if he was planning on just leaving with a group or if he was really gonna stay until the Legends got there. He stayed, he stayed every time. Good. Another 30 minutes passed and Eliza set up her laptop in the corner of the bunker, Jason went back and forth from William at the computers to Eliza.

Clearly the waiting around wasn't doing him any good but at least he was safe. The Bunker is the safest place in the city, her parents worked really hard to make it that way. They even tasked Aunt Nyssa with the task of breaking in and it took her a few minutes, giving the security system enough time to warn whoever was inside and go into lock down mode. Eliza planned on keeping Jason here as long as she could, hoping that everyone on the other side will find and catch this Meta before he has a chance to join them.

Maybe keeping Jason inside over her sisters was wrong, but she knows her sisters, they're strong and they weren't alone. They knew each other inside and out and could work as a team. Jason didn't work well with his own team, Eliza didn't trust him out there with hers. He doesn't listen, he goes by his own rules and strategies which is probably how he died in the first place. So yeah, she's gonna try everything to keep him in the Bunker even if that meant playing the scared little girl card.

As soon as the Legends got there Jason was on his feet and ready to go, Eliza quickly jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. He was not leaving. She refused.  
The Legends came through the garage entrance and made their way towards William to get information on where to go.

Ocean and Nadia came up first, followed by Adam and Troy, and lastly Chloe and Ronnie. William gave them the locations they were watching and they started to head out, Jason attempted to go with them but Eliza held onto him.

"Please don't." She whispered.

Jason let out a long sigh, gently pulling away from her. "I will be back."

She frowned, taking a step back and crossing her arms. "Be careful, don't die this time."

He brushed off her comment. "I'll see you soon." He said before heading towards the elevator with everyone else.

They were just about to pack in and leave when William stopped them. "Wait, new problem."

Everyone turned their attention towards him, He stood up from his chair and grabbed a tablet. "Someone needs to watch the computers, they need an on-site guy in the Glades."

"Why?" Eliza asked, stepping closer to him.

He shrugged. "There's a system I can't get into from here, I have to do it there. Who knows how to run Felicity's program?" He looked at the Legends, knowing Eliza is useless when it comes to computers and Jason was pretty much the same.

Adam and Ronnie both stepped up. Will looked between the two of them, giving Ronnie a more surprised expression. I mean, sure he's Martin Stein's grandson and LIly Stein's son but rarely does he act on it. "Ronnie knows it better, Adam, you can help on the field." William said as he walked down the steps and towards the elevator.

Everyone else followed behind Will, leaving Eliza, Ronnie, Chloe, and Jason behind. Eliza was shocked he didn't immediately follow her brother until she realized what he was looking at. Or who.

"Jay..." She put her hand on his shoulder.

He looked at Eliza then back at Ronnie. "I'm gonna stay."

She rolled her eyes. He was being an overprotective boyfriend now? Not five minutes ago when he was gonna leave? She'll take it.

Chloe crossed her arms, glaring at Ronnie. "You know this a team thing, right?" She pointed between the two of them.

"Sophie is already out there, you two had a thing way before we did, you have a system. Your powers still work without me." He tried to avoid the death glare he was getting by bringing up her sister. Chloe groaned, clearly frustrated with him. "Snowstorm for now, just until William comes back."

Chloe looked over at Eliza and Jason then back at Ronnie. "Do you know what you're doing?"

He nodded. She sighed and gave him a quick hug then started skipping towards the elevator to catch everyone else before they left. The doors soon shut and once again there were three. Not exactly the company Eliza would like to keep in a secure and private underground lair but maybe the two of them will stay in separate corners of the Bunker and not talk to each other. That wasn't too much to ask for, right?

For the most part that's how it went, Eliza was back in her corner on her laptop, Ronnie sat in William's seat and Jason sat across from Eliza, he looked over at Ronnie a few times but he never said anything. She was so thankful for that. Things might be rocky right now but she really did care about the two of them and she would love nothing more than to have both of them in her life. Ronnie was a great friend and part of her thinks that if Jason could lower the sarcasm and wit a little bit, they would get along pretty well.

Not that that wouldn't be the most awkward thing that has ever happened to Eliza, but they really could get along. They were a lot alike. But she wasn't going to force this friendship, right now she was just going to be happy that nothing bad was happening. As soon as she thought it a flashing red light came from the center of the Bunker where Ronnie was. Jason and Eliza both jumped up and ran over to him to see why.

"What's going on?" Jason asked, walking up beside Ronnie and looking over the multiple monitors.

Ronnie looked between 3 different screens, typing aggressively and pulling up outside cameras. "It's a warning but there's nothing out there."

"This is extremely intelligent tech, Ronnie, why would it give us a false warning?" Eliza stood on the the other side of Ronnie, looking at him.

"The meta." Jason mumbled. Eliza and Ronnie turned their attention to him.

"Explain?" She asked, crossing her arms. The whole point of the Bunker was safety, and hearing that the meta is causing this isn't comforting.

"It can control power sources, if it's nearby and senses the energy it can cause a huge freak out." He looked Ronnie. "How close are we to a lock down?"

"Very." Ronnie looked back at the monitors and started typing again. "But I can probably disable it before it locks-" Before he could finish, the beeping stopped and the doors were blocked by ever bigger and heavier metal doors. Ronnie looked around, "Okay, or not." He said before going back to typing. "I can end the lock down it's just gonna take a minute longer."

"Well the faster the better." Eliza said, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the urge to panic. They were just on lock down in the Bunker, it's fine. She basically grew up in this place, spending most nights locked down here anyway due to her parents not having any non vigilante babysitters. Still, she hated it. She always has. She was never a fan of being in the Bunker, she was even less of a fan of being _locked_ in the Bunker. She was too claustrophobic for this to even be considered comfortable and even if the Bunker stayed the same size, knowing she was stuck there triggered something inside of her that just made her shaky.

Ronnie must have sensed her tension because she felt a hand on her arm and when she opened her eyes it was him. He gave her a reassuring look that they were going to be okay and then continued typing and trying to get through the firewalls. Eliza walked over to the other set of computers, there wasn't much of anything on them. Even  if there was she wouldn't know, tech has never been her thing.

There was also a sound coming from one of the motherboards that she knew wasn't good, buzzing isn't normal for computers and it was definitely a bad sign. Before she could turn to tell Ronnie and Jason there was a spark and then everything went really bright then pitch black. The buzzing was gone but it was replaced with the ringing stuck in her ears, luckily that faded after about 30 seconds.

She didn't really know what had happened, she was standing across from the guys and then she was on the ground somewhere in the Bunker, she couldn't see anything. Her head hurt, she definitely hit something but she couldn't have been badly injured since she was sill conscious. Or maybe she was dead. Death was very dark but that made sense?

A light shined on her face and within a second Ronnie and Jason were both by her side.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked, running the flashlight across her to see if she was hurt, she nodded.

"I'm fine." She grumbled, reaching her hand out. Ronnie took it and helped her up. "What the hell was that?" She asked, putting a hand to the back of her head. Standing made it hurt more, confirming that she hit something on the way down.

"I don't know, there was more power than the system could take and it shut down." Ronnie looked around, he had a few scratches and marks on his face from what Eliza could see when he faced the light.

"And exploded." Jason added, moving the flashlight over the dead computers. He looked at Ronnie, "What's the plan, Brainiac?"

"I can run Felicity's system, I can't fix fried computers."

"Then what good are you?"

"I did more than you, all you did was stand there and take up space."

"Oh really, well-"

"Guys!" Eliza put a hand in front of both of them to separate them. The last thing she needed was for these two to start fighting. Her head hurt enough already and their bickering was not helping. "Fighting isn't getting us out of here. So I suggest we all get along and figure it out, once we do, then you can jump on each other."

The two of them stared at Eliza like she was crazy, she wasn't sure if she should be offended or happy that at least it got their attention. But after a few seconds she was a bit offended because they were both looking at her so intently it was off putting. "What?"

Jason shined the flashlight in her direction, she quickly threw her hand up to cover her eyes. "Jay, what the fu-"

"Is she bleeding?" He asked, cutting her off. The answer was clearly there on her hand and neck but Ronnie still followed the trail to the back of her head.

Eliza lowered her hand and looked at Ronnie, his expression changed to concern very quickly when he looked back at Jason. "Do we have a med-kit somewhere?"

"What's wrong?" Eliza asked, her voice shaky. She could pretty much guess but she was afraid to look at her hand or feel her head again.

"Um," Jason moved the flashlight around. "Maybe." He handed the flashlight to Ronnie and pulled his phone out to use as another one before walking off.

"Ronnie?"

He looked at the back of her head again. "It's gonna be fine." He said, not sounding entirely convinced himself. He looked back at her and could see the fear in her eyes. "It's just...a little blood. It's fine." He sounded even less convinced there.

"I'm gonna die." Eliza muttered, she was more calm than Ronnie was but inside she was panicked to the core.

Ronnie shook his head and lead her to the couch she was sitting in before everything went to shit, he helped her down onto the couch and then took off his coat, putting it to the back of her head. "We have to keep pressure on it to slow the bleeding."

"Ah, look at you, Doc." She tried her best to joke but the fear was getting to her and so was the pain in her head, though it did hurt less when Ronnie put pressure on it.

"I spent a lot of time with Bex last year, remember?"

Eliza nodded slightly, moving her hand to the back of her head and putting it on Ronnie's. He was holding his coat there but clearly he didn't want to hurt her by putting too much pressure so she needed to assist and let him know it was fine to push a little harder. If she was bleeding out from the brain, she wants to the slow down the process as much as possible.

"Ronnie, I need your help." Jason called from across the bunker. Ronnie handed Eliza the flashlight and slipped his hand out from under hers.

"I will be right back." He said before jogging off in Jason's direction.

Eliza sat there fora few minutes, listening to Ronnie and Jason, trying to focus on something. If she could focus on something other than her head, she would be fine. She needed a distraction. But nothing was working, the guys were too far down to hear when they aren't talking loudly and there was no reason for them to be talking loudly when they're right next to each other.

Everything started spinning, well everything within flashlight range. She tried to ignore it, blame it on imagination but everything was spinning. It wouldn't stop.

"Ronnie?" She called out, trying to take a deep breath.

Breathe, Eliza. It's just your head. Yeah, it is your head. It's your brains falling out of it.

"Lizzie, you alright?" She heard Jason call back. She didn't have the energy to reply. Tears already started rolling down her cheeks, there was no way she was going to make actual words happen.

She heard two sets of footsteps coming back towards her and then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

Ronnie paced the waiting room of the hospital, Eliza's family went back to talk to the doctors 30 minutes ago. While he knew logically that she had to be fine, she was breathing, she would reply in groans when they tried to talk to her in the Bunker, he couldn't help but worry.

They had called Oliver and Felicity and they were on their way back, but right now the only people he knew in the waiting room were Bex, Isaac, Liv, HD, and Jason. Miriam and Owen were at home with Rosie or they'd be here too.

He looked at everyone sitting around, the strangers looked less panicked than their small group. These people could be waiting on anything, good or bad. But they handled it way better than 6 vigilantes. He looked back at the team and sighed. Elizabeth was going to be fine, he didn't need to wait around for confirmation of that. Her cousins were here, her siblings, her boyfriend. She had plenty of friendly faces.

Chloe insisted he get checked out while he waited for Eliza but of course he didn't. It was just a few scratches, not deep enough to scar. Most of the blood he was covered in was Eliza's which is another reason he wanted to go, he needed to change. People were going to start thinking he was a murderer or something. After Eliza passed out in the bunker, Jason handled most of the prying doors opening part and he carried Eliza. So not only was he covered in blood but he also looked exhausted so he definitely looked like a murderer.

As Ronnie headed for the exit, Jason jumped in front of him and blocked it. "Where you going?"

"Home?" He took a step back. "It's late, Elizabeth's parents are on their way. I need to get back before my mother starts to worry."

"You can't just leave. She's gonna wanna see you."

"She has you, I can visit her tomorrow if she wants to see me." Ronnie tried to move past Jason but he followed his movements and kept him blocked in. "I'm not her boyfriend, you are. I'm going home."

"I have something I need to take care of." He said, crossing his arms. "You need to stay here so when she wakes up she isn't alone."

"Half her family is here already, her parents are coming."

"I have to go back home just for a few hours, there's something that needs my attention."

"Yeah," Ronnie nodded. "Your girlfriend. If you leave, she's gonna be pissed and hurt."

"No, she won't. You'll be here."

"You can't just leave her. She busted her head and thought she was going to die."

"Says the guy who was about to jump on a train and head home to mommy."

"I'm not her boyfriend."

Jason opened his mouth to respond but William, Ada and Mia came into the waiting room and both he and Ronnie quickly backed out of their way. Ada looked like a mess, leftover greasepaint was smeared on her face and she looked more exhausted than Ronnie and Jason. She walked right past the two of them and went straight to Bex and Liv. Mia stood in the entryway of the waiting room behind William, taking Jason's previous spot. William stood in front of the group, making sure everyone was paying attention.

"Eliza is going to be fine. She had a small cut on the back of her head but it looks worse than it is. She did lose a lot of blood though so they're keeping her overnight to watch her."

Okay, maybe Ronnie did need to stay to hear that. Even if he didn't realize the giant weight on his chest until it was removed, turns out he did need the confirmation.

"She wants to see you." Mia said, getting Jason and Ronnie's attention.

"I'm actually heading out-" Jason started but Mia pointed at Ronnie. Jason turned to him and took a step back to move out of his way.

Ronnie was frozen in his spot. "Me?" Mia nodded. "Why?"

She shrugged, moving from the entrance and over to Jason's side. Her attention was focused on him now. "What do you mean you're heading out?" She asked as Ronnie walked past them to get to Eliza's room.

"I have to handle some things in Gotham."

"Can't it wait?"

"No, I've pushed it off too long already."

"Whatever has been waiting for you can wait a little longer, Eliza's hurt, she's gonna need you."

"She has Ronnie."

Mia raised an eyebrow at him. He crossed his arms and looked back at her family then back at Mia. "It's complicated, you'll understand when you're older."

"I'm 20 years old, Jay. I'm older. I don't understand."

"I'm coming back, I just have some stuff to sort out-"

"I've heard that before." Mia looked down at her feet then back up at him. "You leaving is gonna destroy her."

"I'm not leaving forever. Elizabeth will be fine-" He paused, taking a second to study Mia. "You think I'm leaving you?"

Mia sighed, shaking her head. "I don't care what you do, but I don't want Eliza to hurt again."

"Mia, I'm gonna come back, even if things are rough with me and your sister, I will be back whenever you need me."

She shrugged, brushing off his words. She was already closed off, there wasn't much else he could do. He put his hand on her shoulder band gave her a slightly sad smile before leaving.

* * *

Ronnie walked up to Eliza's room, he hesitated for a second before knocking. He thought maybe he should have something to say planned but he didn't know how conscious she was or why she wanted to see him instead of Jason. Maybe she was confused and forgot who she was dating, maybe she didn't wanna see him at all. Though for her sake, he hopes she meant it. Because by now Jason was probably already in Gotham and it would be a shame if Ronnie had to get more blood on this shirt.

After knocking lightly he opened the door, peaking in. Eliza was sitting up on the bed against the wall, she gave him a smile and waved for him to come in so he did. He opened the door more and walked in, shutting it back behind him and slowly made his way over to her.

Her smile faded into horror as he came closer and she looked over him. "You look like shit." She blurted out, focused on his shirt. "I'm so sorry." She looked up at him and he could see in her eyes that she truly meant it.

"It's fine."

"No, I stole your black shirt and I ruined your white one. I'm gonna owe you a whole wardrobe before this month is over."

Ronnie shrugged, sitting down at the foot of her bed. "I can get more shirts, I can't get another you." He reached over and put his hand on her leg through the hospital blanket. "You okay?"

She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side then nodded and looked back at him. "It hurts like a bitch." She said, a small laugh following the sentence. "But I'm gonna be fine. Just a little concussed."

"Your parents are coming."

She nodded again, crossing her arms. "I guess a part of me should be glad they won't give me my phone."

Ronnie raised an eyebrow at her, "You don't have your phone?"

"It could screw with the equipment so until they're done monitoring my head I can't have it."

"Want me to sneak it in?" Ronnie asked, she shook her head.

"I will enjoy my 5 minutes of peace before my parents come in and ask me 700 different ways if I'm okay." She said in an annoyed tone. She knows they only do it because they worry about her but sometimes she just wants them to accept her original answer and leave it at that. She was tired and while partly it might be because of the concussion but it was also 3 am and she should have been asleep hours ago.

Ronnie nodded, looking around the hospital room. She could see he was just as tired as she was, probably more. Definitely more.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to." She said, bringing his attention back to her. "You're tired. Go home, get some rest."

He shook his head, "I'm not leaving you alone."

"I have more people here. You need to rest. Get cleaned up. I wasn't kidding before, you really do look like shit."

"Do you want to see anyone out there?" He asked, she twisted her lips and shook her head.

"They'll just ask the same things my parents will."

"I'm not leaving you alone." He repeated. "I'm staying right here until your parents show up."

"But you're gonna start smelling soon."

He laughed. "Jesus, Liz, don't worry about holding back."

She shrugged, a smile forming on her face. He hasn't seen a genuine smile from her in so long, it was nice. He missed it, he hated that he missed it so much but he did. He missed it. As much as he needed to move on, start over with someone else, he couldn't let her go. He wanted her in his life, even if it wasn't as his girlfriend. He wasn't going to just let her walk out of his life without trying a new approach.

She must have seen the thoughts spinning in his head because before he could say anything she spoke. "I miss you." It wasn't much and there was a long pause before either of them did or said anything after it. But it was enough of a poke to break a little piece of the iceberg between them.

"I miss talking, I miss playing dumb games, I miss making fun of you." She continued, "I know things are different now, but I almost _died_. And not to sound cliche but sitting here thinking about everything that would have been left unsaid and undone if I had died, it showed me a lot."

Ronnie nodded slowly, she had his full undivided attention. He knew opening up was hard for her and rarely did she choose to do it without being prompted to, her near death experience really must have done a number on her.

"I don't want to spend the rest of our lives not talking. I don't know what's happening with Jason, I care about him, I always will. But I care about you too, and even if we're not together, I still want to be able to hang out."

Ronnie looked across the hospital room, she was reading his mind. She didn't just crack her skull open, she got some kind of meta human x-ray vision down in that bunker. She watched him closely, waiting for a reaction that didn't come, in her mind this was a bad thing.

"Never mind, that was a dumb thing to say. This concussion is gonna get my in trouble." She tried to laugh it off but stopped as soon as Ronnie looked at her again. "You don't have to say anything."

Ronnie looked down at the hospital floor and took a deep breath. "I miss you too." The words fell out quickly but like a band-aid, better to get it done fast so it hurts less. He looked back up at Eliza and her look of concern and embarrassment had changed to a small smile.

She leaned up and grabbed his hand and for a moment everything was nice and quiet and peaceful. Everything else faded, the machines beeping, the hospital smell, the fact that Ronnie's shirt wasn't getting any less stiff as the night went on and if he didn't take it off soon it would become a part of him. None of it mattered at that moment.

The world came back when the door opened and Felicity rushed in with Oliver right on her heels. Ronnie quickly pulled back from Eliza and stood up, trying to figure out what to do with his hands. Pockets would be too relaxed, crossing his arms would be disrespectful, he was overthinking things because he was tired, they weren't paying him any attention. They were focused on Eliza but he was already pretty jumpy without the added stress and exhaustion. He finally just settled on putting his hands on his hips.

"Are you okay?" Felicity asked, putting her hand on Eliza's face. She nodded, giving her mom a reassuring smile.

"What happened?" Oliver popped up over Felicity's shoulder, looking more concerned than she was.

Eliza looked at Ronnie for a split second then back at her parents. "I...I don't know, it happened really fast."

Oliver and Felicity turned to Ronnie, hoping maybe he could fill in the blanks. He looked up at the ceiling then at them.

"The....meta overpowered the system and caused a lock down and then shut down the power." He explained, he saw their eyes keep drifting to his shirt. He looked down at it, "Eliza knocked her head and I got to play knight in shining armor." He looked back up and nodded.

Eliza reached over, grabbing her mom's arm to get their attention back from Ronnie. "I'm fine, really." She looked over at him and smiled. "Thank you for staying with me, if you can let everyone else know they can go home on your way out, I would appreciate it."

He nodded, giving the three of them a small wave before turning and heading towards the door. He made it just outside of Eliza's room when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he quickly turned around and took a step back.

Oliver moved his hand and crossed his arms. "Thank you for getting her here safely and for calling us."

Ronnie dropped his shoulders and let out a long breath. "I'm just glad she's alright."

Oliver nodded, looking around the hallway, he wanted to say more Ronnie could tell but he was fighting against doing so.

"What?" Ronnie asked, part of him wanted to let it slide and just go home but the other part was curious. He couldn't help it. His mouth made noise before his brain had a chance to catch up.

Oliver looked back at him, hesitating for another second before finally answering. "Jason wasn't in the waiting room."

Ronnie scoffed, shaking his head and leaning against the wall next to the door to Eliza's room. "He said there was something going on in Gotham."

"So he just left?"

Ronnie nodded.

"Thank you for staying."

"You don't need to thank me."

"There was no reason you had to stay aside from getting yourself checked out and you still stayed with her, yes I do need to thank you." Oliver put his hand back on Ronnie's shoulder. "For what it's worth," He paused until Ronnie looked over at him. "I always liked you more than Jason." He said before going back into Eliza's room.

The door clicked and a small smile formed on Ronnie's face. He looked around the hallway then stood back up and headed for the waiting room. It was time to go home.


	11. Chapter 11

"You're all being dramatic." Eliza groaned, holding her hair in place so Tommy could look at the back of her head. It's been almost a month since she hit her head and aside from some light nausea and the occasional headache hitting her out of the blue, she was fine. She didn't tell anyone about the nausea though, she didn't want to give her family more reason to worry. It was probably unrelated to the head thing anyway, she has been in the hospital recently getting her staples removed so she could have easily caught something.

"Dramatic? Me? Never." Tommy replied, gently moving a few pieces of hair out of his way. "Your dad on the other hand." He glanced over at Oliver who was standing on the other side of the kitchen.

"You said yourself that I'm doing better, I have a life that I've been neglecting for months that I need to get back to."

"You could have gone back at any point, Miss. Why wait until you have a serious head injury?" He asked, moving slightly so he could look at her.

She shrugged, tilting her head down slightly. "I wanted to spend some time with my family."

Tommy put his hand on Eliza's shoulder to let her know she could let her hair back down. He put his medical tools back into his bag and stood in between Eliza and her parents. "She's doing a lot better, but I don't think she should be alone in LA. She still needs someone with her or at least nearby just in case a stitch comes loose or if she gets confused-"

"Uncle Tommy..." Eliza whined. "I don't need a babysitter."

"You and Quinn still have an apartment together?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"She spends most of her time in Vegas." Felicity piped in.

"No leaving." Tommy said, giving Eliza a stern doctor voice.

"Tommy-"

"No, Elizabeth. I don't feel comfortable with you being alone most of the time. You need someone there."

She pouted, crossing her arms. She knows that he's just looking out for her but she really doesn't need two dads. The one she had was plenty enough. Tommy made a good point, why did she want to leave so badly now? She could have went back home at any point after Valentines Day but she stayed. She and Ronnie broke up and that was the type of situation to send her back to LA but she didn't go back, she started dating Jason and at any point both of them could have went back to LA but that never crossed her mind. Why did she want to leave now?

"I'm sure the make up industry can make it another few weeks without Elizabeth Thomas." Oliver said, bringing her back to the conversation.

"What If I found someone to go with me and promise to not leave my side until I'm better?" She asked, sitting up and uncrossing her arms to hold onto the sides of the bar stool she was on.

"I would ask who." He replied.

_Shit, Eliza think._

She hesitated for a second, luckily the sound of the front door and Miriam's voice caught everyone's attention. Her little sister skipped into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge, Ronnie followed behind her and stopped at the entrance when he saw everyone else.

"Ronnie." Eliza finally answered, receiving a confused look from him when she said his name.

"Ronnie?" Oliver repeated, getting the same look.

"Ronnie?" He said slowly, raising an eyebrow at Eliza.

"He can babysit me in LA."

Miriam laughed, closing the fridge door and walking past all of them to leave the kitchen, "Good luck, dude." She said, patting Ronnie on the shoulder as she left.

"He has his own life, Elizabeth. You can't volunteer him for something like this."

"It's not like I'm asking him to raise a child, I'm asking him to stay with me for..." Eliza looked at Tommy, he held up 2 fingers. "2 weeks. That's it."

Oliver looked at Ronnie, studying him up and down then looked back at Eliza. "Or you could stay here just a little longer."

"Dad-"

"Elizabeth-"

"I'll do it." Ronnie spoke up, getting everyone's attention drawn back to him. "There are a few people down there that I know and haven't seen in a few years. I'll keep an eye on her."

Eliza smiled, gesturing to Ronnie while looking at her dad. "See? I'll be fine."

Oliver sighed, looking at Tommy for any kind of help.

"I told her she needed someone to watch over her, she has someone." Tommy looked at Ronnie. "Make sure she takes her medication and keep her away from any kind of additional head injuries."

Ronnie gave him a thumbs up, looking at Oliver and Felicity.

The two of them shared a look then nodded. "Alright." Oliver said.

"I expect you to call every night before bed." Felicity added.

"I promise." Eliza gave her a smile then looked at Ronnie. "Get packing, Stein. We leave tomorrow."

* * *

Ronnie showed up early the next morning, Eliza had planned to book a flight but Ronnie just talked Adam into giving him access to the Jump ship. He went on a road trip adventure a few weeks ago so he didn't exactly want to go on another, plus the awkwardness of a spontaneous road trip is worse if it's with your ex girlfriend. And airports were never a good idea.

But even with access to the Jump ship, Eliza still intended to leave early. Said she was behind on a lot of work and the sooner she gets to LA the sooner she gets re-settled and the sooner she can get back into the swing of things. He couldn't blame her but she shouldn't be overworking herself, she still needed lots of rest. Honestly, Ronnie is surprised he's the one going with her, she should go with Bex.

Yeah, it just happened this way because he walked into the right place at the right time but still, Bex is a nurse in training, she should be there not him.

He hit the button on the Jump Ship key to hide it as he made his way up the front steps, even at the Queen Mansion, you don't want these things lying around visible. You better believe he got yelled at a lot for doing just that. When he reached the door he knocked lightly, assuming Eliza would already be waiting nearby since she told him to get here at 7:00 sharp and it's....Only 5 minutes after that.

The door opened about a minute later but instead of Eliza it was her father, Ronnie held his breath for a split second. Even when he isn't dating Oliver's daughter, the dude was scary. And very big.

"Elizabeth is getting all of her things together, she'll be down in a minute." Oliver said as he opened the door wider, Ronnie walked in and shut it, following Oliver into the kitchen.

There weren't many members of the Queen family in there, just Mia, Rosie and now Oliver. Mia glanced at him then went back to washing off the dishes from breakfast. Rosie gave him a giant smile.

"Did you eat this morning?" Oliver asked, getting Ronnie's attention.

"I had...a muffin."

"Want some eggs? We have plenty." Oliver pointed to a pan on the stove full of scrambled eggs. Ronnie shook his head slightly.

"I'm fine, Thank you." He looked towards the top of the staircase, hoping to see Eliza coming down but nothing yet.

Mia turned off the water and dried her hands. "She's just packing, you can go find her if you want." She said, without looking back. She could see him just fine in the window reflection.

Ronnie looked at Oliver, he didn't seem to care. He was sitting at the island with Rosie, not paying him any mind. He hesitated but then headed up the stairs. He could have stood and waited for her but he knows how long packing can take for her and he needed to know where she was with it.

He reached the top of the stairs and turned down the long hallway, stopping at Eliza's room. The door was open but he still knocked, getting her attention. She was sitting in the middle of the floor, her stuff was packed and she was dressed and ready to go.

"Hey." She said in a soft and gentle tone, giving him a small smile.

"Hi." He took a step into her room. "Ready to go?"

She looked at her suitcases and let out a long breath before nodding. "I think so." She pushed herself off of the floor and picked up a backpack. "Can you help me with this?" She gestured to the 3 other bags in her floor as she picked one of them up.

Ronnie nodded, grabbing the other two. He swung one over his shoulder and nodded towards the door, letting her take the lead downstairs. "Where's the family?" He asked as they made their way back down the hallway.

"They're around. We said goodbye before you got here." She turned slightly to look at him as she answered.

"Are they really okay with you going back to LA?"

"No." She said flatly, shrugging. "But I'm an adult so what can they actually do?"

"Have you heard from Jason?" It came out before Ronnie could stop himself. But he's talked to Eliza a few times since she left the hospital and never once has she mentioned him. He left the hospital after finding out she was okay and that was the last he's heard about him.

Eliza's walk slowed for a second before she sped back up to her previous pace. She was just as caught off guard as Ronnie was when he asked it. She just shook her head and that was all he needed. He wasn't going to say anything else, he wasn't going to push further. He knew where that road lead. He also knew where the Jason road in general lead and he knew he could come back just as quickly as he leaves.

He was just going to LA to watch over Eliza until she was fully healed. Nothing more. Just a friendly favor.

* * *

On the way to the apartment, they stopped by and picked up Eliza's dog from her grandparents. When she went home she hadn't planned on being gone for more than a week or so but life happens and then you don't get to see your dog for a few months. When they made it to the apartment, Eliza dropped her bags in her room and picked up Ripley.

"You can put your stuff in Quinn's room. She's been staying with our grandparents a lot lately so I'm sure she won't mind you sleeping in there for a few nights." She gestured to Quinn's room before sitting down in the lovesac across from the couch.

Ronnie tossed his bags onto the bed then came back out and sat on the couch, looking at Eliza and Ripley. It's a view he hasn't seen in months but god, was it a great one.

No, stop that. Don't think like that. Thoughts like that get you in trouble.

"So," Ronnie started, looking around the apartment. "What now?"

Eliza glanced at him with a smirk. "The computer is in my room, go at it." She said before going back to making faces at her dog.

"My job is to watch you."

"Hope it pays better than your other jobs." She looked over at him again, the look on his face showed genuine concern and it made her feel bad for passing everything off as a joke. "Ronnie, My parents are just over protective. I'm fine."

"I don't think a constant headache is fine."

"I don't have one right now."

Ronnie gave her a look, she shrugged.

"I'm fine." She repeated.

"You keep saying that." He stood back up and crossed his arms.

She looked at Ripley, she had finally settled down and was laying quietly beside her. This conversation could go a few different ways depending on her response. She could say nothing, Ronnie would give her the concerned look she gets from her parents and they go on with their day. She could dig into what he said, flip the script. Ronnie would retreat, not wanting to fight. Or she could actually talk about how she feels.

Talk about how she's scared, she's been to the hospital and she knows that she's fine but being locked in the bunker, the near death experience, it was a lot to take in. She also had this nausea that comes and goes and she's not sure why, it could be her body reacting badly to the medications they have her on or it could be a whole different issue. She wants to talk to Bex about it but she needs to call her or see her in person and she's been so busy that she hasn't had a chance to.

She could also talk about how angry she is at Jason. She had something with Ronnie and maybe Ada was right, maybe she threw it away because she was afraid of being hurt. She felt like if Jason has hurt her once, surely he couldn't do it again. She would have her guard up, he wouldn't blind side her again. But he did. And she was pissed, _she was hurt._ She was everything she wanted to avoid being in the first place.

She didn't want to fight but how do you even start that conversation? So she just decided to say nothing. She was used to being looked at with concern and worry, Ronnie's look just stung a lot more. But like clockwork he nodded slowly before walking off towards Quinn's room. She didn't want to hurt him but she wasn't sure how this was anyone's business but her own. She wasn't going to force herself to open up about things she wasn't comfortable talking about.

* * *

 That night, everything had wind back down and Eliza and Ronnie were sitting on the couch watching My Strange Addictions. Eliza had already called her parents to check in for the night and they ate some takeout a few hours ago. It was getting late and every part of her knew it was time to head to bed but the other part of her really wanted mac and cheese. Like box mac and cheese that's really cheesy and wet. Something her dad never lets her have at home because of some horror story he tells about when Zoe was little there was a guy who watched her and fed her only box mac and cheese for over 2 weeks.

Obviously Chef Oliver wasn't gonna let his kids be anything like that. Except now Eliza was states away and could eat whatever kind of mac and cheese she wanted so she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. Ronnie sat up, pausing the show to watch her. "What are you doing?" He asked, getting up and following her.

"I want mac and cheese." She replied, opening the cabinet and pulling a box out of it.

"Liz, it's almost midnight."

"So go to bed. I can make my own mac and cheese." She grabbed a pot and filled it with water and then sat it on a stove burner.

"You're worse than your mother when it comes to cooking."

Eliza gasped loudly, turning towards him. "How _dare_ you." She said in an offended tone as a smile grew on her face.  "I'll have you know, I can make a mean box mac but now you'll never be able to taste it."

"Thank God." Ronnie laughed, walking up beside her, trying to take the box out of her hands but she moved it away from him.

"Hands off my mac and cheese."

"I'm trying to make sure you don't burn the apartment building down." He tried to reach for the box again but she moved past him and hid the box between her and the wall. "Liz, come on. Give it to me, I'll make it."

She shook her head. "No, you were mean to me." She tried to hold back her laugh, putting the most serious expression she could on her face. "And my mom. You were raised by a mother, Ronnie. How could you?"

Ronnie stood inches away from her and suddenly things felt very heated. His face was very close to hers and she didn't really know how to handle that in a platonic manner. The tables could turn and the situation could become something not platonic but with everything going on, she didn't want to start anything back up with Ronnie. Not tonight. So she handed him the box then slid herself out from between him and the wall, quickly changing her focus to the water to see if it was boiling yet. Nope. She was but the water was not. Ronnie came over to her and sat the box on the counter, changing the stove setting to a higher one.

"You had it on low." He said, looking over at her as he did it.

Eliza hit him on the shoulder, "If you're cooking, I'm sitting back down."

Ronnie nodded. "You can finish this episode then it's time for bed."

"Okay, dad." She said as she walked back towards the couch.

After a few minutes Ronnie joined her with two bowls, he handed one to her as he sat down.

"Thank you." She gave him a smile as she took the bowl and stirred up the mac and cheese. She took a few bites before the nausea kicked back in and suddenly she was done. She sat the bowl on the coffee table in front of the couch and walked to the bathroom.

She sat there on the cold bathroom floor for about 10 minutes before there was a slight knock on the door, it opened and Ronnie poked his head in. "You okay?"

Eliza shook her head, laying her head on the edge of the bathtub. Ronnie opened the door wider and crawled up beside her on the floor. "What's wrong?"

She let out a few deep breaths, trying to calm her body down. She was over heated, she was tired, her body did not want mac and cheese as much as her brain did. Before she could say any of this to Ronnie she was puking her guts out, even if he was bad with blood and vomit, he sat with her and held her hair back. Moments like this really showed you who your real friends were and despite all the shit she puts him through, Ronnie is always there for her.

That didn't make her feel any better, he shouldn't have to sit here with her. He deserves so much better than that. He should be in Central City with his friends and his mom, New York with his brother. She shouldn't have volunteered him, she should have begged Ada instead. Called Quinn and told her to fake being with her 24/7. Ronnie shouldn't be here.

Fast forwarding another 20 minutes, Ronnie is in the chair in the corner of Eliza's room, keeping a close eye on her in bed. She told him repeatedly that she's fine and it was just a bad mixture of mac and cheese and the takeout they had earlier in the night but he was stuck on the idea of at least calling Bex and getting a second opinion. If he called Bex, she would tell Tommy and he would tell her dad. She didn't want this to be a big thing, she just wanted to get better and not worry anyone.

Ronnie on the other hand is super caring and protective and she doesn't understand why he isn't in the medical field. He cares about people a lot, he rarely meets someone he doesn't like. Jason doesn't count. They'd probably get along if it weren't for the whole-- Her-- situation.

"You can go to sleep, you know." She said, looking over at him. He was facing his phone in his hands but his gaze was on her, he shook his head slightly.

"I'm fine."

"So am I."

"I would feel better if you called Bex."

"Ronnie..." Eliza leaned back on her headboard. "I told you it was-"

"The food, yeah. But it could be more serious, you've been complaining about a stomach ache for a week."

"Tommy checked me out, I'm fine."

"You didn't tell him about your stomach." Ronnie put his phone down and crossed his arms. "Call Bex, let her say it's fine and I'll leave."

Eliza groaned. "She's either working or sleeping, she isn't gonna have time."

"Then we'll call in the morning."

"Ronnie-"

"I'll call her." Ronnie pulled his phone back up and clicked her name on his contacts, putting his phone to his ear.

Eliza groaned again, he really wasn't giving this up.

_"Hello?"_

"Becca!" Ronnie greeted loudly for someone who was tired. "I have a really quick medical question, are you busy?"

_"Uh, no. Shoot."_

"Chloe hasn't been feeling great lately," Ronnie looked over at Eliza and gave her a quick wink before continuing. "She tripped and hit her head and hasn't felt 100% since. She doesn't want to see a doctor because it wasn't as serious as Elizabeth's injury but I'm worried about her."

_"What are the symptoms?"_

"Uh, nausea, stomach aches in general."

_"How long as she felt like this?"_

"How long?" Ronnie repeated, Eliza shrugged. "Let's say about a week. Maybe 2."

_"When did she hit her head?"_

"About a month ago."

_"Probably not related to the head injury."_

"Okay, well could it be like a weird flu or something?"

_"I mean...Yeah, there's a ton of things it **could** be... But I'd try a pregnancy test first."_

"Pregnancy test?"

_"If she goes to the doctor for any kind of stomach related issue she's gonna be tested for that anyway so I'd try that before wasting your time at the hospital."_

"Okay, thanks." Ronnie lowered his phone and ended the call. He looked over at Eliza and she was already shaking her head. "Elizabeth-"

"No, I'm good. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." She pulled up her blanket and sank further into bed, covering her whole body underneath the blanket.

Ronnie stood up and walked over to her, pulling the blanket down slightly. "If that's what is it-"

"No." She jerked the blanket back over her head.

"Elizabeth."

"I don't want that to be why."

Her voice was muffled but he could still hear the fear in it. She knew this was a realistic possibility and she'd rather hide under a blanket and ignore the problem than find out for sure. She had a huge flight reflex for a girl who was raised by two of the most stubborn and determined people in the whole universe.

"Do you want me to go pick up a test?"

"No. I'm good."

"You can't ignore this forever, you don't even know if you're-"

"Goodnight."

Ronnie slowly bulled the blanket down again. She looked up at him and her expression matched the tone of her voice. She looked terrified. "Do you want a test?"

She nodded very slightly, if Ronnie's attention was focused anywhere else he would have missed it.

"I'll be right back." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before stuffing his phone into his pocket and leaving her bedroom.

This is exactly why she didn't want to call Bex. She didn't think about pregnancy being a possibility but now that she said it, it made total sense. All she could do now was hope that it wasn't a little pink plus waiting for her on the other side of this.


	12. Chapter 12

Eliza and Ronnie sat on her bed, both of them leaned against the headboard and waiting for time to tick by. Every few seconds one of them would look at their watch then back up at the clock on the wall above the tv across from them. 5 minutes would probably pass longer if they turned on the tv but then again would it? Eliza couldn't focus on anything, her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest and she could not calm herself down.

Ronnie was there for emotional support and he couldn't help her which killed him inside. She never talked about kids, she never talked about marriage or even moving in together while they were dating. She didn't like commitment and in 5 minutes she might possibly have the biggest commitment on earth thrown at her. She needed a distraction, either that or to actually talk about it, he knew better than that by now.

"You remember our second date?" He broke the silence, his focus still on the clock on the wall.

Eliza looked over at him, her brows were narrowed. "Yeah?" She looked back up at the clock. "We went to see Spider-Man. You said he was your favorite superhero."

"Still is, Don't tell the Legends." He mumbled, glancing at Eliza. "I didn't think you'd go out with me again after the first date."

"Why? You got me a Green Arrow pillow."

"We didn't really talk a lot, I mean we talked and before we left we talked but-" He shrugged. "You were in a different place then. We both were."

"We weren't ready for anything serious, seeing Spider-Man isn't serious."

"Speak for yourself, I fucking love Spider-Man, that is a very sensitive topic."

"If I didn't like him we wouldn't have gotten any closer, would we?"

"No, I'd leave you right away." His tone and expression were completely serious but he couldn't hold it after Eliza started laughing.

"Why did bring this up?" She asked, looking at him.

He shrugged again, the room stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "Your dad didn't like me."

"My dad didn't like anyone I went out with."

"Has he ever?"

Eliza shook her head. "He learned to tolerate Jason but he's never liked my taste in guys. Ada and Mia, they have JJ and Connor. Miriam isn't an issue and Rosie isn't old enough to date. I'm the odd one out."

"Because of your taste in men?"

"No, because of this." She gestured around the room. "Moving to LA, becoming a make-up artist, not wanting to be associated with vigilantism. My boyfriends just add to that."

"For someone who wants nothing to do with vigilantism, you date a lot of superheros."

"No, just two. My other...Male acquaintances...Were just guys I met through Quinn out here."

Ronnie hesitated before digging further. They still had about 3 minutes before the test would be ready so he might as well continue asking her questions. She's giving him more now than she ever did when they were together. Jason coming back really has helped her open up more. Ronnie moved from beside Eliza to in front of her, sitting in the center of the bed with his legs crossed.

"Why did you move out here?"

It took Eliza a few seconds of looking around the room, crossing her arms, and biting her bottom lip to come up with a response. Finally when she did she looked back at him and shrugged. "I wanted to be someone else." She could see in Ronnie's eyes that a follow up question was coming so she went ahead and continued before he had to ask. "I was going through a lot when Jason died, in Star City the Queen family is the center of attention and I didn't want that attention."

She sighed, uncrossing her arms and twiddling her thumbs. "I didn't want people coming up and asking about Jason, I didn't want to be seen as Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak's daughter. In LA, no one bothers to learn anything about you, people are in and out like a revolving door, anyone you meet you'll never see again. And the people who did stay around, they got to know me for _me_ and not for who my family is."

Ronnie nodded slowly, clearly he understood even if just a little bit. He had a lot to live up to being related to Lily & Martin Stein. He made a lot of jokes about it and he had a lot of knowledge stored in his brain but he just wasn't wired the same as either of them and yet people expected a lot from him. Instead of saying any of that he just turned to look at the clock again then back at Eliza.

"I'm wearing a watch."

Eliza laughed again, Ronnie shook his head and tried to contain his laughter because it's not funny. He's just an idiot.

Eliza sat up and grabbed his hand. "Thank you for being here with me."

"No place I'd rather be."

She held up her left arm to show Ronnie her watch before looking at it.

"Am I a joke to you?" He asked, his expression serious again.

She nodded. "Very much so, Yeah." She said, glancing at him and putting her hand back down. "It's time."

"Are you ready?"

"No." She responded quickly, taking a deep breath. "But I can't avoid it now."

Ronnie nodded, moving back to her side. "I'll be here."

Eliza slid off of the bed and made her way to the bathroom, the test was sitting on the edge of the sink and every part of Eliza wanted to turn around and walk out but she pushed forward. She got up to the sink and she has never felt so much of a burning pain from a plus sign before. She was terrible at math but this was a different burn. This was a burn that didn't even make her want to cry, it was numbing and scary.

She took a deep breath and made her way back to her bedroom to tell Ronnie the results. He knew as soon as he saw her walking up to the doorway, he rolled off the bed and met her halfway, wrapping his arms around her. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay but that was just a natural human reaction and it wasn't going to help anything at this moment so they just stood there in silence, her head on his chest.

After a few minutes Eliza pulled away and made her way back to the bed. "It's late, we should sleep."

Ronnie looked at his watch. 2:34 AM.

"Do you want to talk?" He asked, his gaze following her as she climbed back into bed.

She shook her head and pulled the blanket over her legs.

"Okay." He said quietly, moving towards the door.

"Ronnie."

He stopped and turned back towards her. "Yeah?"

"Stay with me?" She nodded to the spot beside her on the bed.

Ronnie hesitated but then climbed up beside her. This was going to end badly, he knew that. But she needed him and he was going to be there as long as she asked him to be. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest again and for a moment she felt like everything was fine. Whatever wasn't going to be fine could wait until the morning. Right now she needed to sleep. She had someone else to worry about now.


	13. Chapter 13

Eliza spent the next morning debating the first of many choices she was going to have to make. Eggs or Waffles? Both sounded really good so she went with both. Easy and done. She -- _Ronnie_ \-- made some eggs and waffles and they sat down on the couch to eat. She felt a lot better than she thought she would when she woke up, she wasn't nauseous and she wasn't really stressed about having a human inside of her. Maybe because she was avoiding it all together but that wasn't the point.

After breakfast and clean up it was time for decision number two. What the hell was she gonna do now? She could avoid it longer, it's not like she was having a baby tomorrow. But Ronnie wasn't gonna let her get away with that.

"So, when are you gonna tell Jason?" He asked, looking over at her from the computer in her bedroom. She sat a few feet away from him setting up her sfx products in front of her. She shrugged.

"I'm not."

"Elizabeth, he has a right to know."

"I don't even know what I'm doing yet and it would be useless to tell him for no reason." She kept trying to brush off his responses but he was stubborn and persisted despite her clearly sending off messages that she didn't want him to.

"I know you better than that, you've thought this through a million times. You're gonna fight yourself, you're not going to want a baby, but in the end-"

"In the end if I decide to keep this baby, then congratulations, you're a dad." Eliza looked over at him with an expression he would usually be afraid of then went back to organizing her make-up, she was defensive and rightfully so but Ronnie didn't want to give in so easily.

"If you decide to keep this baby, Jason has a right to _at least_ know about it."

Don't do it Eliza, just keep your mouth shut, hit record, continue this conversation later. He's just trying to help.

"Your dad left." She snapped her attention back to him. She already hated herself for saying it when she saw how taken back he was when it came out of her mouth. It was a touchy subject he didn't like talking about and she knew she should stop but she didn't. "You were older but it still sucked, right? That's what Jason does. He comes around, stays long enough to make an impact then he leaves. No warning, no goodbye, just gone."

She could tell Ronnie wanted to speak up but she continued before he could. "I know the first time wasn't completely his fault, I don't know what really went down when he died. But he stayed gone, he let me believe he was dead and then he just showed up out of nowhere and turned my life upside down. For whatever reason I let him back in, maybe that was my mistake, but I did. And he left. Again."

"And I get that but-"

"No, you don't. But if I let him into this kid's life, you will. Because what happened to you, what he keeps doing to me, he'll do to her. And I can't let that happen."

Ronnie looked at the computer monitor, sliding his chair back and turning it towards Eliza. "Then I will personally torch his ass until he's barbecue."

"Nice thought." She forced a smile, looking back at her recording setup. "But life doesn't work like that."

The room was silent for a minute before Ronnie stood up and sat beside her. "You said her."

Eliza glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised. "What?"

"You said her. You've thought about it."

"How could I not think about it? I have commitment issues, I'm not a monster." She looked straight again then sighed, standing up and pacing the small area between her table and the computer. "I don't know what to do."

"How about we start with something a little bit simpler? What do you _want_ to do?"

"Call my mom." She looked at Ronnie with a pout. "But I can't. I wouldn't know what to say and she'd definitely be mad if I told her I was pregnant over the phone."

"So, let's go back."

"Can't do that either."

"Elizabeth Thomas, you can't ignore this forever."

Eliza scoffed, he clearly didn't know her very well. She was great at ignoring things. But... Yeah, he knew her better than almost anyone and he was right. She couldn't ignore this, because even if she did the fact that there's a human growing inside of her would make it really difficult.

She pouted again and sat back down in her spot beside Ronnie, she leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed. "What if I don't want a baby?"

"There's adoption."

"Would I have to tell Jason?"

Ronnie was quiet, she knew the answer already but was hoping maybe he'd tell her what she wanted to hear. She sat back up and gave him a sad smile.

"We don't have to go now, we can wait another week or so. You still need to wrap your head around this."

She nodded and somehow, that made her a feel a little better. Mostly because she didn't have to see the disappointment on her parents' faces for at least another week and she also didn't have to track down Jason. That was a bonus.

After another minute, Ronnie stood up and made his way back over to the computer. He gestured to Eliza's mess of things on his way. "Get to work."

"Excuse me, aren't you supposed to be working too?" She snapped back in a playful tone.

He shrugged. "Games are fun, I sit here for an hour and I'm done. You're gonna be here for six."

"That's fair." She mumbled in barely a whisper, reaching for her camera.

"Wait!" Ronnie slid the chair back from the computer again and looked over at Eliza who was frozen with her hand over the record button. He pointed at all the sfx things, looking directly at her. "Is that safe?"

Eliza glanced at her things and shrugged. "It's not...dangerous?"

They sat in silence for a minute, both of them thinking it through. Eliza pulled back from her camera. "Plan B. We're doing glam today." She said as she pushed her sfx things off the table and into the bin beside it.

* * *

A month passed and Eliza was still debating on whether or not she should tell anyone about the pregnancy. She decided that she wasn't ready to be a mom so she was looking into different families that were looking to adopt. She hadn't contacted any of them either. She went to an appointment a week ago and everything was fine, the kid was growing like it's supposed to and it was just a constant reminder that she didn't have a ton of time left to find someone she liked to adopt it.

She knew that realistically she had to tell her family at the very least, it's not like she could avoid them for 7 months. But she was handling the situation so why bring them into something that's not even gonna be a part of their lives? Ada and JJ adopted a puppy, that's enough for them, right?

Eliza sat on the couch, flipping through profiles of potential parents and none of them stood out. They were nice of paper, sure, but this baby deserved a happy loving family with lots of people to love them and lots of room to run and play and kids to play with and a steady life. That was the most important part.

Quinn walked up and sat down beside her on the couch, she looked over her shoulder and stayed there until Eliza glanced over at her. She met her gaze then looked at the tv that was playing quietly in the background. "You should just keep the baby."

"Can't exactly do that, Quinn." She said, looking back over the papers again. She held it up to show Quinn. "What about this family? They look nice." She's already read over their file and she wasn't completely convinced but if she could get a second opinion to confirm or deny if these were good people, it would make her life a whole lot easier.

Quinn shook her head. Eliza sighed, flipping through the previous files again. After a minute she held another one up.

"Remember Juno?" Quinn asked, looking at the paper.

Eliza scrunched her face and looked at the paper again. "Shit." She mumbled, putting it back in the pile. She sat the stack down on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch.

As soon as she did there was a knock at the door, she groaned then looked over at Quinn with a pleading look.

"No, you're turn."

"But I'm with child."

Quinn shot her a glare and shook her head, trying to cover her smile. "Bitch." She stood up and walked towards the door, swinging it open. "Eliza, your boyfriend's here." She said as she opened the door wider.

Eliza leaned up as Ronnie walked into the living room. Her confusion turned to a smile. "Hey."

"Hey." He returned her smile but it faded quickly. She studied his body language and she could tell something was bothering him. She patted the spot on the couch beside her so he walked over and sat down.

"What's wrong?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"My brother is getting married."

"Been there. It's super stressful when your older brother finds love and happiness with an intelligent woman." Eliza said sarcastically, earning her a look from Ronnie. "Why is this a big deal suddenly?"

"They've been trying to work out a date and they chose one." He paused. "They're getting married the day after tomorrow. I have to be in New York tonight because there's a suit fitting really early tomorrow along with rehearsal things-"

"They just now told you this? Kinda last minute."

"No." Ronnie shook his head, looking down at his feet. "They told me this last month but I kept pushing it off. I've been busy, between the Legends and-" He cut himself off, looking up at Eliza. "I have a plus one."

"Ronnie, I've never even met them."

"So? You know who they are, they know who you are. You need to get out and distract yourself from this." He pointed to the stack of papers on the coffee table before bringing his attention back to her. "Come with me. Adam's in the jumpship ready to drop me off."

Eliza hesitated, glancing over at Quinn. She shrugged. "I'll watch Ripley. I'm gonna be here for a few weeks."

"I know it's sudden, if you don't want to-"

"I'll go with you." She cut him off. "But I'll need a dress."

"I'm sure we can handle that."


	14. Chapter 14

Ronnie lead Eliza up to the front door of his brother's apartment. She was nervous, he could tell. He's tried to tell her she has nothing to be worried about, his brother is a million times better than he is and Callie is the nicest most loving and caring person in the whole universe. But maybe that's why she was nervous, maybe he talks too highly about them and she's afraid that they'll judge her. They wouldn't ever even consider it, they're amazing person inside and out but he could understand if that's why she was worried.

He knocked on the door and Eliza clinched onto his hand a little tighter, moving her other hand over his. He glanced over at her and gave her a smile. He was excited about this, Bryce and Callie have wanted to meet Eliza since they started dating but scheduling never worked out and Eliza was hesitant on going on romantic getaways. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of having a serious boyfriend so taking her across the country to meet his extended family would be a big trigger for her. He wasn't completely sure what she saw them as now but he wasn't going to ask. She was going through a lot and the fact that she went with him on this trip is more than he could hope for.

"Ronnie!" Bryce opened the door with a bright smile, his gaze immediately going to Eliza at his side. "Elizabeth, it's nice to finally meet you." He held his hand out, she pulled away from Ronnie long enough to shake it then grabbed back onto him. "Ronnie will not shut up about you."

"He won't shut up in general." She rolled her eyes playfully before looking up at Ronnie.

He shook his head, pulling Eliza past Bryce and into the apartment. "Where's the nice one?" He asked, looking around the empty living room.

Bryce shut the front door and followed them, "Getting the guest room ready." He pointed down the hallway. "I mean, it's completely fine the way it is but she insists on everything being perfect." He crossed his arms, looking at Ronnie and Eliza.

"Hiding the breakables." Ronnie added, looking at Eliza. "She has this impression that I'm an irresponsible child around fragile things."

"That's not true." Callie said as she walked through the hall and into the living room with the rest of them, taking the spot beside Bryce. "I just wanted to make sure the pillows were fluffed." She gave Ronnie a reassuring smile then looked at Eliza. "Sorry you were outnumbered."

"You've been outnumbered a lot longer than I have."

Bryce and Ronnie both looked offended. "How dare both of you, we are delightful." Bryce laughed.

Eliza looked at Ronnie, "I can see the resemblance now."

After a few more back and forth comments, they sat down and had dinner. The dining room was small and domestic. Nothing like Eliza's home in Star City. This table was big enough for 6 people, that was it. And that was nice, their home was cute and perfect for them to start a family in.

"So, Eliza, you do make up in LA, right?" Callie asked, cutting off the conversation about a video game that the boys were having.

"Yeah, it's mostly just random gigs, I have more of an online presence than in person but it's nice, I like it."

"How was it leaving? Your entire family is in Star City." Bryce asked, leaning back in his chair. "Had to be hard."

Eliza looked at Ronnie and shrugged. "It was." She said, looking back across the table at Callie and Bryce. "But my grandparents actually live in Los Vegas so I lived with them for the first year or so until one of my friends moved down and we got an apartment together in LA."

The table was quiet for a beat before Callie stood up. "Well, we have a busy 48 hours ahead of us so..." She looked at Bryce, he stood up and took his and Callie's plates and stacked them before taking Eliza and Ronnie's.

Eliza stood up and took her's and Ronnie's plates back from Bryce. "I can help." She stacked the plates and took the lead into the kitchen, Bryce followed behind her and Ronnie was about to go along with them until Callie moved into his line of sight.

"How are things?" She asked, sitting in Eliza's previous spot.

Ronnie lowered himself back down into the chair and shrugged. "Fine."

"Are you two back together?"

"You sound like my mother." He brushed off her question, forgetting that Callie can be just as persistent as Eliza, she gave him this look that said if he didn't answer then there would be consequences. "I don't know."

"She came all this way."

"On a time ship."

"She crossed the country to attend a wedding for two people she doesn't know."

Ronnie looked from Callie to the kitchen where he could see the shadows of Eliza and Bryce at the sink. He looked back up at Callie and shrugged again. "On a time ship."

"She dedicated herself to be stuck with you for at least three days. Time ship or not."

He went quiet. She had a good point but he wasn't allowing himself to think like that. He couldn't be let down again. Callie watched him for a minute before walking over to the bar.

"You want anything?"

"Whiskey."

"You still have a fitting in the morning with Bryce, keep that in mind." She said as she took a glass from the cabinet.

"I'm not getting drunk, I'm simply accepting an offer." He stood up and walked over to her, taking the bottle of whiskey from her and pouring it into the glass.

"Liquid courage. I expect an answer to that couple question tomorrow." She handed him the glass then walked to the living room.

About an hour or so later Ronnie and Eliza were getting set up in the guest room, Eliza in bed and Ronnie on the floor with a blanket acting as a bed. Eliza kept telling him to just get in bed but he ignored her and pretended to already be asleep until she asked him a real question to get his attention, then he had no choice but to take the spot next to her in bed because Eliza gets what she wants. That's just how it goes. She has the genes of a badass genius and Oliver Queen. You don't tell her no.

"So," Ronnie started, the silence was painful and neither of them were actually tired yet because in LA it's like 8PM, they were not sleeping anytime soon. "What did you and Bry talk about?"

Eliza tilted her head up to look at him then moved it back onto his chest. "Dishes."

"Liz."

"What? I'm an old woman and your brother has nice plates."

"What do you think of them?"

It took Eliza a minute to answer which worried Ronnie, he understands that they can come off as overly-friendly and extroverted people and that isn't exactly Eliza. Though, she does hang out with Isaac, Roman and HD. Probably for their girlfriends....She's dating him. Maybe?

"I love them. They're so happy and they clearly love each other so much."

"I know. It's disgusting. Healthy relationship? who wants one of those?" He was joking but it still earned him a light hit from Eliza.

"We're healthy." She said, he could tell she was thinking it through. "Well...There's worse."

"Way worse." He agreed before her comment hit him. "Relationship?"

Eliza lifted her head to look at him. "Yeah?" She seemed just as confused as him but for different reasons. "What else would you call it?"

"Friends that....share a bed a lot of the time."

"Benefits with no benefits?" She laughed, Ronnie just shrugged. "Ronnie, you've been staying with me for weeks."

"Yeah but...platonically."

Eliza shook her head and leaned back beside him. "Do you want it to be platonic?" She asked, looking over at him.

"Do you?"

"Nu-uh, I asked you first."

Ronnie shook his head lightly.

"Okay then." Eliza looked up at the ceiling then back at him. "Goodnight." She rolled over to her side and closed her eyes.

"Elizabeth." Ronnie let out a quiet laugh, She turned back to face him. "Goodnight."

She gave him a smile then rolled back over. That was confirmation enough to make him happy.

* * *

Early the next morning a tired Ronnie left with Bryce to get fitted for a tux last minute and Callie and Eliza went through dresses that she had in her closet. Both of them were tired but it had absolutely nothing to do with playing games all night since they couldn't sleep.

Bryce and Ronnie spent their morning talking about video games while Callie and Eliza talked about the wedding. Eliza was never really into the idea of marriage but the way Callie talked about it was like a Disney Princess. She was full of so much love and peace and honestly Callie really was a real life Disney Princess, Eliza was in awe of her. She had everything together, she and Bryce had been dating for years, they had a nice home, they shared house work. It was all so much like a fairytale. They were even talking about kids and how Callie made sure to get a 3 bedroom apartment so she could still have an available guest room for when people who live so far away visit. i.e when Ronnie visits.

Eliza learned a lot from the conversation but mostly that Ronnie has more homes than her. But when it was time for the wedding, that's when she actually got something from the conversation. Weddings were a soft spot for most people but for someone who didn't like commitment, it hit Eliza really hard.

She sat at the table in the living room looking across to Ronnie and Bryce. Ronnie was having trouble with the tie part of the suit so Bryce, being the big brother he is, was helping him. It was cute to watch. Bryce and Callie weren't completely the superstition type but the boys still had to leave early to make sure everything is set up perfectly. Eliza wasn't dressed for the wedding yet, instead she wore some sweats with her hair up in a messy bun and just watched from a distance.

Bryce fixed the tie and straightened Ronnie's suit jacket, nodding to himself as he stepped back. He looked over at Eliza then back at Ronnie. "What do you think?"

Eliza looked him up and down and shrugged. "Needs pants."

Ronnie looked down at his shorts and pouted. Bryce nodded in agreement.

"Pants would look better than the shorts."

"It was warm in here, give me a break." He walked past Bryce, making his way towards Eliza. "How awful is it?"

"It's not. You look nice." She said, looking over him again.

"You gonna be okay while I'm gone?"

She nodded. "I'll see you two at the wedding."

Bryce gave her a small wave as he passed by, "I'll be in the car. Find your pants."

The door opened and shut, Ronnie shook his head.

"You better go. Don't wanna leave him waiting."

* * *

An hour later, Eliza and Callie stood in the same place Ronnie and Bryce were standing earlier. Eliza helped Callie with her makeup and hair, the bridesmaids were running late so she was filling in. The wedding venue was only about 10 minutes away so they had plenty of time to waste since the actual reception wasn't for another hour.

"So, what are your plans after this?" Callie asked as Eliza started on her own makeup.

"I guess attend a wedding." She joked, looking back at Callie then back at the mirror. "Probably head home, I have a lot I need to figure out."

"With Ronnie?"

"He can join me. I won't stop him." She caught Callie's glance in the mirror and sighed. "Things are really complicated for me right now. I would love to have him by my side but this isn't something he signed up for and I don't want him to stay with me because he feels like he has to. I want it to be his choice."

"What could be so complicated that he would leave?"

Eliza stayed quiet, leaving Callie to put the small puzzle pieces together in her mind. After a minute or so she walked over and put a hand on Eliza's shoulder and causing her to look up from the mirror. "Ronnie cares about you enough to bring you here. He's only done that one other time. Bryce and I are like his second parents." She crossed her arms and shrugged. "I don't know what you're going through, but I know Ronnie and I know that when he cares about someone as much as he does about you, he doesn't just walk away."

Callie left her to her own thoughts after that. It's not that she didn't trust Ronnie, she didn't trust herself. She didn't want to hurt him again. But Callie made a good point, no matter what happens, how big or small the fight is, Ronnie always comes back. He was nothing if not dedicated....Or maybe he was just dumb. But even still, he has done nothing but prove to her how right Callie was. He helps her with the simplest and most ridiculous tasks without complaint and with the big important stuff he's by her side always.

The reminder on her phone went off, pulling her out of her thoughts. She didn't have any time to dwell on this right now, she didn't have a lot of time left to finish her makeup and hair before they had to leave for this wedding.

* * *

The "I Do"s came and gone and soon Eliza and Ronnie were sitting in the corner of some nice restaurant in even nicer clothes, watching Callie and Bryce be adorable and married while interacting with their friends. After about an hour the restaurant emptied of wedding guests and filled again with families and friends. There was a couple in particular that caught Eliza's attention.

It was a relatively young couple with a toddler that was maybe 3 years old? He was decently behaved for a small child, throughout dinner she could hear him yelling about how much he enjoyed his food. With a plate of grilled chicken and green beans, she wished for nothing more than the chicken fingers and cheesy mac that 3 year old had. She'd never admit it but she spent the rest of their time there thinking about that couple.

She was terrified of the bad possibilities, but they seemed so happy. She wanted that. She wanted to be happy, she wanted a cute little family. Bryce and Callie were so happy and in love and they had everything so figured out. She wanted to have things figured out, she wanted to have an apartment with an extra bedroom, she wanted the annoying, loud, dramatic, hyper guy sitting beside her to _stay_ beside her.

Yeah, she could wait. She could. There was a lot of things that needed to be done in such little time, she could wait and try again in a year or so, be in a more steady environment. But why not just dive in head first? The worst thing that could happen was she get hurt again, she was used to that feeling, she can handle it. She wanted to be happy. Actually, truly, 100% happy. This might be the way to do it.

Once back at the apartment, Eliza and Ronnie packed up their things, said their goodbyes and headed to the jumpship where Adam was picking them up. They boarded the ship, tossed their things in the back and sat down, Adam turned to look at them.

"Where you heading?" He asked, looking between the two of them.

Ronnie looked at Eliza then back at Adam. "LA?"

"Actually, Gotham."

Ronnie turned his attention back to Eliza, an eyebrow raised. She looked over at him and nodded.

Adam watched them for a second then proceeded to pilot the ship through a dimensional portal and to Gotham. When they got there Eliza unbuckled and quickly headed for the exit. "Stay here." She said, looking at Adam before opening the door and skipping out, Ronnie followed behind her.

She navigated her way to Wayne Manor, it wasn't that hard, only about half a mile away. Ronnie kept trying to get her attention but she was determined to do this and if she stopped to explain it, she would think about it and if she thought about it she would chicken out.

Not too long later they were both standing at the front door of Wayne Manor, Eliza rung the doorbell as Ronnie begged her for information, she kept ignoring him and luckily for her Alfred opened the door not long after she rang the bell.

"Where's Jason?" She asked.

"I believe he's-" Alfred started but Jason came up behind him before he could finish. "Right here."

"Lizzie?" He stepped past Alfred and out onto the porch. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he crossed his arms.

Ronnie copied his motions, looking at Eliza. He was just as curious as Jason was. First thing they ever had in common.

"I'm pregnant." Eliza threw her hands up before shrugging and crossing her arms. "I'm keeping the baby, I don't need your help, I just thought that you deserved to know." She waited a second for him to react before she turned around and started walking off of the porch, Ronnie once again right behind her.

"Liz-"

"You know where I live." She didn't even bother turning to look at him, she did what needed to be done on the Jason front.

Now if only she could get her parents out of the way with that same confidence then she would be golden.


	15. Chapter 15

Eliza stood in the center of the living room, facing her parents who were sitting across from her on the couch. Just as she expected, all her previous confidence was gone and she wanted nothing more than to abort mission and just surprise them with a baby in....She doesn't know exactly how long, which is weird because she's practically been counting down the minutes to when life as she knows it changes and for her to forget now of all times is weird.

She also wasn't sure how she got here to this moment, everything before it was a blur. She remembers getting on the jump ship and now she's here in front of her parents. Ronnie wasn't with her, her siblings weren't around. She was on her own. But honestly, how badly could they react? Will and Zoe had a little boy, they took that fine. But Will and Zoe have been married for a few years and this kid was planned. That doesn't mean that they can be angry with her, she's an adult and it's her life. This isn't gonna dramatically change their lives, they'll be fine.

Still, standing there and looking at them was a lot harder than she thought it would be. They looked up at her with confusion and worry which did not help at all. After a few more seconds she finally took a deep breath and started.

"I have to tell you something, but you have to promise to let me explain before you take over."

"That is not a great way to start." Felicity spoke up, a half smile on her face to hide her concern. It wasn't hiding anything in reality but she was trying, she gets points for that.

"Whatever it is..." Oliver looked at Felicity then back at up at Eliza. "You can tell us."

"I'm pregnant with Jason's baby." She blurted it out and felt a weight fall off her shoulders. The hard part was over....or so she thought. She looked at her parents and suddenly their worry and concern shifted into pure disappointment.

"Are you sure?" Felicity asked, a glimmer of hope in her voice.

Eliza nodded slowly, suddenly the weight was back and she was nervous again.

"Elizabeth, how could you be so reckless and irresponsible? You're supposed to be the good one."

She's never seen her dad so upset, not with her. He was right, she was supposed to be responsible, she was supposed to be able to take care of herself, they trusted her to move to LA because she was mature. This was stupid. She was stupid for even thinking this was a good idea.

"And with Jason?" Felicity added on, "What, was there not a homeless drug addict available?"

Eliza looked down at her feet, "I'm sorry." She said in barely a whisper, trying to hold back the tears building up in her eyes.

"It's fine, we'll figure something out." She heard her dad say but she didn't dare look up. "This doesn't have to be a thing, we can take care of it before it's a problem."

In that moment, Eliza felt a sudden urge of protection, she jumped back and looked up at her dad who was standing in between her and her mom. "No." She shook her head, she didn't care if tears fell now.

"You're too young for this, you can't handle it."

"I'm 23. I should have 3 kids by now."

"Elizabeth, don't fight me on this."

"No, this is my life. I get to make this choice, not you."

"Eliza, your father is just trying to help. We want what's best for you." Felicity jumped in, standing up beside Oliver.

Eliza looked between her parents in complete shock. She thought they would be on her side, they were always on her side, why not now? She turned to leave but as soon as she did she felt a hand on her shoulder, when she turned back around she was laying in bed, out of breath with tears rolling down her face. It was hard to see through the darkness but she knew who was beside her.

"It's okay, it's just a dream." Ronnie whispered, moving his hand from her shoulder, sitting up.

She let out a long breath as she rolled over to her back, not sure if it was a sigh of relief or of worry that now she has to go through this again but for real this time. She shook her head. "It's not just a dream."

"Was it about the baby?"

She nodded. Even in the dark she could see questions forming in Ronnie's head. "It was my parents."

He frowned, looking around the bedroom before bringing his gaze back to her. "Do you want me to come with you to tell them?"

Eliza considered it, she really did. Having him there for support would be great but he had things to do too, she couldn't drag him everywhere with her so she shook her head and sat up beside him. "You have that thing with the Legends, you need to take care of that."

"I can push off the Legends."

"You've been pushing them off, Ronnie. Chloe needs you. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, like you said, it was just a dream."

He was fighting himself on whether or not he should join the Legends or not, she could tell. But he respected her decision, she appreciated it even if it was a bad one, she needed to do this. The worst that could happen she just experienced, she could handle anything now.

* * *

The next morning Ronnie and the Legends dropped Eliza off at the Queen Mansion, saving her a long airport struggle, she and Ronnie said goodbye, Nadia and Ocean reacted dramatically, Ripley barked at the timeship, it was a normal send off. Then it was time to go inside.

The door swung open and Eliza was greeted by her mother and a giant hug before she lead her into the kitchen where her dad was.

"Things are kinda crazy right now but if you're hungry, we have leftovers from breakfast." She said as they walked into the kitchen.

Oliver was on the phone, looking out of the back door. As she made her way over to her dad, she looked past him to see outside, it was just Rosie alone on the swings. It would look sad if she didn't seem to be having the time of her life.

She tapped Oliver on the shoulder and he turned to look at her. "Just tell me when you have information." He said before ending the call and giving Eliza a hug. "You're back."

"I'm back." She repeated, pulling away and opening the door slightly to let Ripley run out to Rosie.

"Is everything okay?" Oliver asked, quickly reading her worried expression.

"What? Yeah. I'm fine. Can't I visit my family?" Eliza turned the tables on to him as she made her way to the other side of the island and sitting down on one of the stools.

"You just left a few weeks ago."

"I missed you. I missed Mom, I missed my annoying siblings." She looked around the empty and quiet living room. "Where...are my annoying siblings?" She asked, looking back at her dad.

Felicity moved over to the other side of the island to stand beside Oliver. "That's the crazy part." She answered for him.

"Ada is stuck at an airport with the private jet," Oliver started.

"Miriam is upstairs sleeping because she didn't get home from performing a club until 6 this morning," Felicity continued

"Owen is-"

"With Lorena Bertinelli." Felicity scrunched her face.

"Mia snuck out this morning with Connor and no one knows where they went, Dinah might have a lead as to where they are but I'm still waiting." Oliver rubbed his temple, letting out a deep breath. Leave it to Mia to stress him out more than any of the other kids.

"But at least you're here." Felicity gave Eliza a smile.

"About that-"

"Are you hungry?" Oliver snapped out of his tense state and went straight to dad mode. "I can fix you something."

"No, I'm good-"

"Are you sure? I can make pancakes."

Damn, she really did like his pancakes. No, she needed to do this and eating pancakes was not going to help. Pancakes after.

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay?" Oliver leaned on the island. "Everything okay?"

"Yes? Maybe?...Yeah, everything is fine. I just... A lot has happened in the past few weeks." This wasn't going to be like the dream, that wasn't real. This was real. Her parents loved and supported her, they won't react badly.

"Is this about Ronnie?" Felicity asked.

"Sorta?"

"Do I need to talk to him?" Oliver was quick to jump in on that one.

"No." Eliza answered flatly. "No, he's been nothing but nice and supportive and especially now."

"Eliza, what's going on?"

She looked between her parents before looking at her hands on the island. "I'm...Pregnant."

The room was silent for a minute before Felicity spoke up. "Are you sure? Home tests can be trick-"

"I went to an appointment, I'm very sure."

"And it's Ronnie's?" Oliver asked.

She shook her head, tears already forming. Before she knew it, both of her parents were beside her and, even if just for a second, it felt like everything was gonna be okay. They didn't ask anything else, she assumed there'd be plenty of time for that later, instead Oliver pulled back and looked at Eliza. 

"Are you sure you don't want pancakes?"

Eliza let out a small laugh, she nodded. "I actually do kinda want pancakes."

 


	16. Chapter 16

A few days later, the news about the baby spread around the Queen family and soon every distant relative knew Eliza was pregnant. At least it saved her the trouble of having to tell people. And for the most part, everyone took it fine. Mia didn't take it super great at first but once she found out it was Jason's, she was ecstatic. She was convinced this meant Eliza and Jason had to get back together again (again) but she was going to be disappointed when that didn't happen.

Now the talk of the family wasn't about Eliza being pregnant so much as it was about where she was gonna live. She couldn't very well live by herself in LA with a newborn even though Quinn and Ronnie would be with her and Roman comes over a lot, and Grandma and Grandpa live an hour away. This was just her parents making sure they get to see the baby as much as they want. If she stayed in LA, they couldn't just take the kid and give it back.

That's what they were talking about when Ronnie was dropped off by the Legends, Rosie let him into the battlefield and wished him luck as she skipped back up the stairs before anyone noticed she came down at all.

"I think we can handle it." Eliza said, leaned back on the couch. "You guys handled it."

"We're older, we have more friends to give kids to." Felicity crossed her arms, she was sitting across from Eliza in a chair, Oliver stood beside her.

"But this is one baby."

"As far as you know."

"Shit." Ronnie blurted, everyone looked over at him. He froze in place for a second before raising a hand. "Hi."

"Ronnie!" Eliza jumped up from the couch and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Hey." He rested his head on hers for a second before she pulled back. "You okay?"

She nodded before turning to her parents. "They want us to move into the mansion." She rolled her eyes, looking back at Ronnie.

"A baby is a lot of work, I think for the first few months it would be easier if you had help." Oliver corrected her.

"So, moving into the mansion." Eliza simplified it. "He just wants dibs before Bruce calls it."

"Ah, the Bats." Ronnie forced a smile. "I'd much prefer royalty over upside down pigeons for the baby."

"See? Ronnie's in." Felicity said, earning a look from Eliza.

Eliza looked at Ronnie, narrowing her brows. It wasn't unusual for Ronnie to make snarky comments in private but he was usually pretty put together in front of her parents, maybe he was starting to get comfortable with them but with her dad around that was highly unlikely.

He copied her expression. "I just think your parents would be better than his."

"Yeah but...You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Okay." She took his hand and lead him further into the living room, they sat down on the couch and the living arrangement debate went on.

Her parents would make points as to why she should stay home, Eliza pointed out that she's an adult and needs to learn how to fend for herself without any help. Ronnie was quiet for most of it, which was uncharacteristic for him and occasionally his eye would twitch and she wanted to point it out but he could be tired, she has no idea what he just went through on the Legends mission.

"Are you prepared for the responsibility that comes with a baby?" Oliver asked, crossing his arms.

"No, but is anyone actually prepared?"

"You have money, that's a great first step. You need a house with room for a nursery, a play space that's safe-"

"I have plenty of space in LA."

"You have a two bedroom apartment that you share with Quinn Lance and two dogs."

"Quinn is hardly there anymore."

"That doesn't make me feel better, you're gonna need help with the baby."

"Ronnie will help." Eliza turned to Ronnie, lightly hitting him on the shoulder.

He jumped and looked around the living room in a panic for a split second before relaxing back in his spot on the couch with his arms crossed. "Yes, I can help. I'm great with dogs."

"We're talking about the baby." Eliza whispered.

He nodded. "Right...I'm great with those too."

"When are you ever around babies?" Oliver turned to Ronnie.

Ronnie froze, his eyes widened as he looked up at Oliver. "I have no idea." He looked over at Eliza. "Have I ever met a baby?"

Eliza opened her mouth to respond but just shook her head and looked back at her dad, holding a hand up between her and Ronnie. "Ignore him. I can handle it."

"Just humor us." Felicity gave Eliza the big puppy eyes that no one can say no to, even if Eliza herself possessed the pleading look you can't use puppy eyes against puppy eyes. "Stay for the first few months, if you handle it without much help then you can choose where to go next."

"I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions. I appreciate you guys worrying about me, but It's not necessary. I came to tell you that I was pregnant not ask for help." She stood up, "I'm gonna get some rest before dinner. Ronnie?" She held her hand out for Ronnie, He took it and stood up beside her.

Eliza started to lead Ronnie out of the living room and up the stairs, he turned to look back at Oliver and Felicity to see if there were any objections.

"Talk some sense into her." Oliver said before they were too far up the stairs to hear, Ronnie nodded.

It wasn't gonna be easy but he was gonna try,  Eliza has a strong mental attitude but she couldn't face everything alone and it would be better for everyone, especially the baby, if she learned and accepted this now.

They got upstairs and Eliza shut her bedroom door quietly, Ronnie made himself comfortable on the fluffy chair in the corner and watched Eliza as she organized her desk. 

"Rose." She said, breaking the silence.

"Daisy." Ronnie replied, shrugging at her glare.

"No, idiot." She turned around, leaning on her desk and crossing her arms. "You were around Rosemary."

It took Ronnie a second to understand what she was saying but then he shook his head. "She was already what? 6 when I met her? She doesn't count as a baby."

"Doesn't matter, she's under 10 and loves you."

"I give her sugar."

"See? Already a great dad." She turned back around and continued to organize her desk. There was a lot of make up laying out, if she left this out in LA Quinn and Ripley both would have gotten into it.

Ronnie was quiet again for a while, Eliza turned around to see if he had fallen asleep on her but when she did he was just staring into space. Maybe the dad comment freaked him out, they were moving really quickly and maybe he was the one about to pull away this time.

"Are you sure you want this?" She asked, bringing Ronnie back to reality.

"What?"

Eliza pointed at her stomach.

"Of course." Ronnie smiled, standing up and walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her. "I love..." He trailed off, looking at her desk. "That color. I should get one of these for my house."

Eliza sighed, looking at the desk. "It's white. It stains easily."

"That's because you leave liquid lip gloss uncapped for 3 days in the hot sun." He pulled away from her and crossed his arms.

"You don't know that that's what-" She cut herself off when she looked at Ronnie's knowing expression. "Go back to the Legends."

 


End file.
